


Crazy he calls me

by acidflapjack



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Minor Violence, Sexual Content, Strong Female Characters, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-20 11:06:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 72,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3648009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acidflapjack/pseuds/acidflapjack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>when playing I realized that Pinkerton says he played with Harkness' programming making him a better fighter and I always hoped this meant that they were going to make him a companion and when he disappeared (When you do one of the mission conclusions) that you would meet him out in the wasteland. When this didn't happen I was a little disappointed but it was the inspiration for a 'What if' story.<br/>What if Harkness was a companion and how would other parts of the story work with him as a companion?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Don't ever say the Q word...

_“What's up wastelanders? this is three dog bow wow and your listening to GNR that’s galaxy news radio unless you had forgot. and here’s me, ha ha he with the news for those of you not in the know to the north west of megaton there a vault. Vault 101. now believe it or not this ones still got people living in it. And every few years or so someone comes scrabbling out. Well wouldn't you know it someone's come scrabbling out of it again! And I kid you not he came to visit yours truly right here in the studio. Now this cat, James is his name. He had been in a hole for years he needed to know what was what in this beautiful capitol wasteland so I the great and powerful three dog set my brother straight and told him what was what, Who were the winners, the losers, the movers and the shakers so if you see James out there you say hello. Be kind to our new brother and show him that here on the outside we always fight the good fight. Hey! and in case a light bulb just started glowing over your head you can flick the switch and forget about it. Your not getting in that vault, whoever is living in there doesn't want what your selling. And you can't knock down the door. It's weighs about 13 tonnes. Until next time this is three dog! And your listening to galaxy news radio bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts!”_

_  
_ “Well I'm guessing after the fight in the city last night, today will be pretty qu....”  
The look that shot through the Chief of securities eyes was enough to make the young recruit bite down on his lip and shrink back  
“There is a rule that everyone lives by on my staff and it's a very very simple rule”  
“What's that?” The young man dared to ask softly  
“Don't ever... ever say the 'Q' word”  
The young man nodded silently but kept him mouth shut, he had heard stories of the chief and how he could be vicious and short tempered. When he had told his parents that he was going to join the security force his father had nodded and smiled before simply telling him to keep on Harknesses good side  
“I promise. I won't say Qu....”  
The glare came back and he snapped his mouth shut, for a moment the two of them stood in tense silence before one of the other guards appeared in the doorway. His eyes were wider than they should be, breathing shallow, he was scared  
“God damn it Billy” Cursed Harness at the confused young man before walking away

There are few words that make a security guards stomach tighten, quiet was a forbidden word but there were one's that were spoke only in whispers. One was murder, the other was Explosive. But only one could make their stomach tighten and cold sweat brake out down they're back  
“Enclave?” Even Harkness repeated softly. Nothing good came from that word being spoken  
The man nodded as he stood in the doorway watching the chief. Then with a single hand signal the two of them headed for the deck to get a better look, this morning was getting better and better. A crappy nights sleep, Putting up with Li in the counsel meeting and before he could run a comb through his hair he was on patrol.  
The two of them started down the stairs and into the stairwell before bursting out into the world. There had been some kind of fire fight last night in the ruins and so the bridge had been moved away and now Harkness was thankful for that  
“He’s just been standing there looking at us since he got there”  
“Did he try to fire?” Harkness asked with a frown  
“No… just been standing waiting’”  
For a moment Harkness brought up his rife and looked down the barrel, the man returned the favour by bringing up a rifle and cocking his head to the side. He wasn't prepared to let them just pick him off but he wasn't firing either. The Chief dropped his gun and the man did the same slinging it over his back and holding up his hands before dropping them to his side again  
“Give him the usual welcome” He finally decided  
The bridge guard moved to the box at the side and pressed the button  
“Welcome to rivet city. Please wait while the bridge extends”  
The metal underfoot shuddered as the bridge broke free of its clamp and carefully but with much complaining started it’s hard journey round, once momentum had caught it the bridge swung freely until the other end slotted into place. For a moment the figure simply stood there before moving along the bridge the moment he got to the middle Harkness raised his weapon again and stepped to the edge looking at the man from behind the gun  
“Alright. Hold it right there! State your business!”  
The solider stopped and tilted his head to the side his hand moved slowly up and touched something on his throat for a moment but there was nothing.  
“Can’t hear you. Where the hell is the rest of your unit?”  
Again the solider tried his mike and again nothing came out. Finally he held his hands up. For some reason they were making Harkness tense he prided himself on judging people by the way they talked and looked at him, being able to judge if someone was hostile or friendly moments before they did anything to prove his opinion but with the helmet and armour he couldn't tell what this man was thinking. He kept one hand up as he slowly reached round and slipped his thumb under the rife sling.  
Harkness renewed his grip on his own assault rifle and rested his cheek on the familiar plastic stock.  
“Make your decision wisely!” He warned  
The rifle came easily off the man's back and he held it out on the sling before dropping it on the floor then with a few clips being released he pulled his helmet off  
He turned out to be a she and she was defiantly not built to be in that armour. It swamped her make movement difficult as she put the helmet down  
“I'm looking for my father”  
Harkness dropped his gun to his waist and moved a little closer to the bridge his curiosity peaking. Did the Enclave hire women?  
“And who might your father be? If he’s on this boat I know him”  
The women shook her head her hair falling onto the side of the shoulder plates  
“I'm sure you don’t know him. He doesn't live here. Till recently he lived in a vault”  
Harkness spoke before he thought  
“Oh yeah? And I'm a Fairy Princess. Keep up that smart ass attitude and you’ll be floating face first in the river. Enclave armour or no!”  
“What’s an Enclave?” The girl asked with a frown  
This time Harkness stopped and thought. She was telling the truth she really didn't know what he was talking about  
“Look. What does it matter who he is? Can I just come in?”  
“It matters because I don’t just let anyone on this boat. And I don’t let Enclave wander around. I'm responsible for these people. So either tell me what I want to know, or you don’t get on. It’s pretty fucking simple”  
For a moment she sighed and gently shifted her weight. Pain flashed in her face before she closed her eyes  
“He disappeared, and I'm trying to find him. I came here for supplies and to ask around. It’s that simple”  
Again she was telling the truth. Something caught his eye between the glove and the arm guard something slid down the gap and hit the bridge. Blood; she was injured and from the rate it was dripping he doubted she could pull a trigger right now  
“Alright, alright. You can come in, if I hear about any trouble, you’re winding up in the river. You get me?”  
The women nodded and picked up her things before making her way onto the deck of the boat. For a moment the two of them stood face to face. There was something different about this woman but hell if he knew what. She was looking at the signs on the doors and he took the time to look her over. She was young but that wasn't something out of the ordinary but something about her was... odd. No born and bred wastelander could use the power armour, they had a wiring system that made them move when the person moved but there was no way to power them without a secondary source all batteries tried would make them short out and seize up and no battery with a small enough power supply could be found that was sustainable. A light flashed on the women’s wrist when she moved and Harkness eyes moved to the item; it was a wrist-worn computer the women had managed to rig the suit into it. He guessed the computer worked off the movements of the person wearing it and generated a low enough power to run the suit  
“If you just want to buy some stimpaks then you want the market place. If you want to see a doctor then you want to head through that door, turn left go through that door…”  
“If he’s still out there tell Chief that Li is looking for him” A voice waved over the radio  
“How about I show you” Harkness sighed “Looks like I'm going that way anyway”  
The woman seemed a little bit relieved but then something occurred to Harkness he looked the armour over and stopped  
“Um… I need you to strip” He said hesitatingly  
“What?” The women asked raising an eyebrow  
“The armour…. Enclave aren't really welcome here and I don’t want people to think you are one”  
“I would be insulted if I knew what an enclave was” The women said crossing her arms over her chest and again wincing a little  
“The armour you’re wearing. It comes from a group called the Enclave…. Do you really not know who they are?”  
“I was making my way round the ruins and I found this man laying dead on the floor and this next to him. someone had stripped him, couldn't use it, so they left it. I could because.... Well lets just say I was shown how to hook up my pip-boy with the old armour”  
For a moment the chief simply watched her before nodding  
“So what were you wearing before that?”  
  
The two of them walked silently through the ship with the armour thrown in her bag it seemed people paid attention when their was a new person about making her think not many stayed or there wasn't many people living here  
“How many live here?” The girl asked  
“About two hundred but most come and go only a few will be seen day to day”  
“How long have you worked here?” She asked  
Harkness stopped and turned to look at the women, it was defiantly better to see her in something a little more figure hugging she had produced a slightly battered set of leather armour which looked like it had seen much better days, he also got to see the wound and damage where the armour had failed. Looked like a bullet graze in and out through flesh but she needed a stimpack. At least this armour fit her a little better than the power armour. He had to admit he didn't like it, at heart Harkness liked a woman to be feminine. They didn't have to be someone who needed to have a man do anything for them more than cook and clean but he liked a woman to wear dresses and take time over their appearance. It was why he had fallen so much for his ex wife… but then again how that had ended he should probably change his preference  
“Look...?”  
“Louie... or Lou”  
“Look Louie. Go around asking so many questions is gonna piss people off… remember that”  
The women smiled softly and shrugged  
“It’s hard not to…. Grew up with the same forty people around me all my life I get a little excited to meet new people. Always want to know about them”  
“Well, people round here don’t like people asking too many questions. Remember that when your about”  
“Do _you_  not like questions to be asked?”  
Harkness sighed and turned shaking his head  
“Everyone has a story. No one survives in this world without ending up with one. But if people wanna tell you that story then they will. But most will tell you to piss off”  
“So, how about you? Wanna tell me yours?”  
Harkness simply smiled and turned her by the shoulder so she was facing the clinic, the corridor was small enough that he was made to stand close enough to take in her scent. Warm leather and a flower, what was that? Jasmine? Maybe honeysuckle? It was mixed with fresh sweat and the gentle metallic of blood nothing entirely pleasant or unpleasant  
“Maybe when I ain't having a bad day huh?”  
He said softly in her ear before taking a couple of steps back and watching her  
“I’ll take you up on that offer… maybe” her tone was deeper, more emotional but without a past reference he couldn't tell which emotion.  
“You do that” Harkness called before turning his back on the women and jogging down the stairs, giving the door to the lab a shove to open it  
"What Li, This better be important!" he called before closing the door his last sight was the girls head just visible as she watched him out of sight  
The girl left with no real issues and quickly days slipped by, fights happened in the ruins and in the evening if you went to the deck of the ship you could just about see the smoke rising and hear the explosions but nothing changed too much there. The girl had gone, leaving quietly enough but she did manage to find a few people who were willing to talk to her but apart from the Weatherly hotel no one really made much comment about the passing women. Vera was a woman he could see himself with. Always looked lovely and he always found himself at her hotel for his dinner she was a little gossipy but it was the reason he had started hanging round the woman. Sit quietly in the corner and you could listen to her talking all evening picking up all kind of little tit-bits  
  
A week had passed before Harkness could even blink and it was the Monday meeting again  
Li was wearing her red shirt. It seemed whenever she was wearing her red shirt she seemed to be a bigger bitch than usual he guessed the radiation was making her sick enough that she felt she had to primp and fuss, pulling at her hair and layering on thick make up to hide the radiation poisoning everyone suffered from eventually in one way or another. He probably did, probably had all sorts of tumours in his guts, they were probably all rotted away but at least he still had a head full or hair and pretty clear skin.  
“There is nothing wrong with the idea of getting the railings sorted on the upper deck, but the question is where do we find the raw materials?” Bannon called out  
That was it, he was officially bored they had gone through everything he needed to talk to them about and now it was just the two of them bickering over the precious metals they had left  
“How about we ask the caravan’s if they can find anything?” He tried  
For a moment the two of them nodded  
“Don’t worry. I'm sure the man who is in charge of the traders can run down to the river side and talked to the caravans” Harkness hinted with a raised eyebrow  
“Sounds like its right in your field of expertise” Li jumped on.  
It was rare that the two of them got on and agreed but when it was something like making Bannon miserable then it was worth it  
He didn't see the point in arguing his corner. They weren't going to let him forget his big speech about how he should be the one to work overseeing the traders as he had superiority  
“Fine” He said reluctantly  
Harkness got to his feet and started to pack away his papers he was actually looking forwards to getting back to patrolling around the marketplace  
“Just…” Li called halting his progress  
He didn't say anything just looked over with steady eyes  
“That man Zimmer. He is still in my damn lab”  
He let out a long sigh and looked down at the table  
“I've told you. Unless he does something wrong then I can’t interject. Until he steals, assaults or tries to kill someone then he is free to go about the ship. You invited him into your lab and now you’re complaining he won’t leave. You get him out if he’s that much of a pain in your ass”  
Doctor Li narrowed her eyes and sighed.  
“You know why he’s here don’t you?” She said  
“No. don’t know, don’t care”  
For a moment the two sized each other up before she nodded satisfied she wasn't going to get any further with this  
“I'm sure I can find a way” She sniffed  
“Great. You do that. Just don’t break the rules and I won’t have to throw you out too”  
Before another line of conversation could be started Harkness slammed his hand on the papers scooped them up making a show of heading for the door as a quick pace walking out the door  
“See you next week” he called  
“I'm sure you’ll see us before then” Bannon called to the quickly retreating man  
“Not if I have anything to do with it”  
He disappeared out of the door waving behind him making Bannon sigh  
“Ass” he hissed   
Li didn't say anything she just watched the empty door and nodded silently

“We need to talk”  
Her voice was heavy and serious, but there was no need to turn round. No need to bother he just kept sitting in his chair watching the world through the curtains. The night was closing in and he was on his fourth bottle  
“Just say it” He snapped “Just say you can’t handle it all and your leaving”  
“That’s right”  
“But you still love me… you hope I can find a way to deal with this but it won’t make you come back”  
A hand laid on his shoulder, carefully painted nails and the rings he had given her showing in the corner of his eye  
“You could always read me like a book John. But your wrong. I might come back if you've truly changed”  
Finally he turned round to see her face the make up had carefully covered the black eye but guilt still filled his mind and soul. He hadn't meant to; he would never mean to hurt her. She was the love of his life but he had been having an nightmare of the war. She had tried to wake him by grabbing his shoulders.  
He had started awake and stuck out. It was the last straw and both of them knew it.  
She silently turned and picked up her bags, he just watched her go. It was the best thing for her, she would be safer away from him and the man he had become  
  
Harkness woke with a frown as the memories faded quickly making him rub his head and eyes, he had had another fitful night and was feeling sluggish but it was unfortunately morning far too quickly. He got up and tried to stretch out his bones and joints but frustratingly nothing happened. Splashing water on his face and took the opportunity to stand out on the flight deck and try to get his head back into gear, pushing the door open he stepped out into the morning, he blinked in the light of the sun taking in a lungful of the air, the cool wind helping to wake him up. Opening the water bottle he kept in the pouch on his belt, he took a moment sipping the water and grimacing at the taste and feel of grit running along his tongue.  
Movement caught his eye, he looked up to the metro station on the river bank to see a lone figure slipped out of the bent gate and walk up the stairs. It seemed they were getting another visit. For a moment he simply watched her.  
She came up to the top of the stairs and looked round sweeping her gun barrel with her to check the world she had come up into. When no one fired she slung her rifle over her shoulder and trudged up the stairs and on to the river bank  
“No wearing the armour” He said softly to himself  
For a moment she stopped slowly dropping what seemed to be a heavy bag taking a moment to stretch before pulling off the helmet he couldn't help but lean onto the railing and watch the woman's movements. She unplugged her suit and started to unlatch the plates of armour then finally folding it in on itself back plate into chest plate and arms and grieves tucked in then putting it in the bag, she was standing in the middle of the bank in nothing but t-shirt and shorts and for a moment she stood lifting her head to the sun and letting her hair fall down on her shoulders giving it a ruffle, the sun hit her hair and the colour exploded bright red in the light. She seemed to be taking in the weather and he had to admit the sun was warm this morning and the air sweet and it made him smile to see someone take time to look about. She lifted her arms above her head and let herself double over forwards till she grabbed her ankles first left hand to right leg then right hand to left she straightened and bent backwards letting the hair fall free before she finally pulled out a pair of green work trousers and a white vest top out of her bag with a pair of boots and a hat. Louie pulled them on doing her hair up into a bun and tucking her it under the hat, she glared at the bag before picking it back up and reluctantly heaving her haul onto her back she started to make her slow and steady progress towards the bridge  
“Would of preferred a dress” He sighed before turning into the barracks  
He was about to head down when he stopped by a shaving mirror and took his time to smooth his hair into place and check his reflection before heading down to the market. Most the traders had eaten and were already back to work; it was common courtesy for people not to come to the shops till the stall holders had eaten, but it seemed she was the first in. It amused him to see that she was sitting on the sofa talking to Flak her leg tucked under her as if she had been there for hours. Not many women spent time around the arms dealing couple, most seemed to be nervous of them but she seemed to be more than happy to chat with them and Flak was enjoying the company and the gun talk  
“She makes friends easy don’t she?” Harkness called to Shrapnel  
The man grunted and rolled his eyes as he leaned on the shops cabinet. It seemed he wasn't so taken by her, but then he had noticed a trend in the people who lived in the city when it came to her they either liked her friendly personality or found her annoying usually due to her asking all her questions. He didn't plan on talking to her too much he wanted to keep away from those damn questions  
  
“So what do you know about the Zimmer guy?” It seemed his plans had lasted about an hour, he had been talking to someone about a recent death they had had and she had sneaked up behind him  
“Was trying to avoid you” He sighed before turning slowly round “You need anything?”  
“Information on Zimmer” She said “Why you are you avoiding me?”  
“I don’t know him, don’t wanna. He’s not my problem unless he does something wrong. Till then I ain't going near him.... And because you ask so many damn questions”  
He started to walk along towards the market diner and she simply followed  
“So that what brings you to Rivet City this time?” He asked guessing for now his fate was to talk to this one. It wouldn't be right to try throwing her out the city just because she’s nosey.  
Would it?  
“Few things actually, looking for a few people”  
“That I can help you with” That was something Harkness was happy to do he had spent most of his time getting to know the people of this boat  
The two of them sat down at one of the tables well actually he sat down and she joined him without saying anything  
“I'm looking for Vera weatherly” She said watching him  
Harkness nodded and something in her expression changed, he realized that he had given a little smile  
“So you know exactly where she is huh?” She said with a laugh  
“Don’t know what your talking about... She runs the hotel on upper deck she’s there most days”  
She nodded and tilted her head, her eyes taking him in, she was about to say something when they were interpreted  
“I knew you would be back” Garry called as he came to stand next to the two of them  
“Guess I just can’t get enough of your cakes” She laughed producing a bag and handing it over “How’s things?”  
Harkness sat silently and watched the women as she chatted, she was covered in dust from the wastes; it seemed to be a theme with people who had been out walking the world. Her hair had to be dyed as it was a deep rich red indoors but he couldn't help remember the colour as she ruffled her hair in the sun, now it was pulled out of her face but it was messed up where she had been wearing her helmet and the hat. Her eyes were fixed on Gary as they talked about what had been going on. Harkness was one of the most liked men in security; he made it his point to be approachable but this women just seemed to get people to trust her by simply being nice, he got the feeling it was to do with the fact that when she talked to someone she gave them her full attention as if in that moment no one else mattered  
“So that’s crab-cakes and water for you and a free drink of nuka cola for the chief”  
“You know I pay like everyone” Harkness said firmly unsure why he would be giving him a free drink and feeling slightly guilty for not paying attention to the conversation but instead watching the women  
“It’s not free... It just comes out of the trading” She said with a shrug  
That seemed all right but he didn't like the idea of owing her  
“I’ll catch you back for that” He said making sure not to seem too grateful  
“Yeah you will” She said with a smile  
“So apart from Vera and information on Zimmer who else you looking for.”  
This seemed to make her stop. Maybe it was because he was the one asking questions  
“Doctor Li. My father visited her recently” She said softly  
“I meant to say I think I saw him.... Older guy, about 50? beard?”  
Hope shot through the girl as she sat up looking over at Harkness  
“That’s him... did you talk to him?” She asked  
“No... sorry” He said softly  
Her shoulders sagged a little and she simply nodded and slumped back looking a little deflated  
“Well least I know he wasn't lying” She said with a sigh  
“Who?”  
“Three dog"  
This caught his attention  
“You went into the ruins?” He asked softly  
“Yeah” She said with a shrug  
He mimicked her shrug and arched an eyebrow as he tilted his head back  
“Yeah, just went running round one of the most dangerous places in this area to go to talk to some guy on a radio and walked back out?”  
She just nodded and gave a sigh  
“It not that big a deal... I'm small enough to creep through most of the metro tunnels and anything I can’t get past I have a gun”  
“Well I know if I were your father I wouldn't want you running about in the ruins” he said softly  
“Now that’s an image” She said with an eyebrow raised and a cocky smile on her face. It seemed the disappointment was short lived and a different side to her personality was showing... she was a bit of a smart ass  
He was about to take the bait when Gary stepped in and handed him his bottle  
“I'm surprised you stopped by Chief” Garry chatted as he put down the order “Don’t you usually go up the to hotel to have your dinner?”  
He looked over at the face on the women and cursed silently, she was grinning brightly as she silently stood. For a moment Louise and Harkness watched each other before she made ready to go  
“Thanks for the directions” She laughed. She took her cakes and water before she headed to chat to Cindy Cantelli it seemed she was selling her some meds. Maybe she was the source of the sudden influx of items and stock. He looked down at the cups and plates; they were all good condition even the mugs weren't chipped.  
"New cups and plate?" Harkness asked idly  
Gary nodded and smiled  
"Louie sold them to Seagrave. I couldn't help but snap them up... that and some new cooking pots"  
Harkness sighed heavily and stood heading to the gun shop to stand at his usual post  
“Well if you ever need to talk don't hesitate and we'll go for a chat and a drink?”  
She; it seemed had made friend with Cindy and was trying to help her with her husband  
“Thanks... it's not always easy to find someone I can talk to”  
Was Harkness the only person who wasn't getting bewitched by this girl?

That night he saw her again and this times she seemed a little more serious her green eyes were intense as she talked quietly with a few of the regulars around the shops but as the market closed she headed off. He guessed she had left as he made his way to the hotel for some food and listen to the gossip that Vera was spreading. Most was nothing to be concerned about but then sometimes a gem came up  
“I knew my brother had a son and I knew they were living out by megaton somewhere but I hadn't talked to him in years. it’s not like I'm the travelling type” Her voice did carry somewhat  
“Well I'm sorry for being the one to tell you this”  
“Oh It’s a sad fact but unfortunately nothing that will upset me too much. we didn't exactly get on. but I would be happy to give his son somewhere to live he can certainly come here”  
Harkness came to the doorway and stopped. Vera was talking to someone he couldn't quiet see mainly because her robot was hoovering nearby  
“Evening Vera” He called “Looking lovely as always”  
“You can’t even see me John” She playfully scolded before turning to the other person “There. done!”  
The two women stood and for a moment Harkness didn't recognise her guest  
“I didn't know we had a new guest” He said idly  
“We don’t... you just don’t recognise the one’s we have” Vera laughed  
“And why wouldn't I recognise them?” He said raising his eyebrow  
“Because I had a shower” Louie laughed  
For a moment Harkness just watched the young women, she was totally different from the women who he had been talking to a little while ago; she had indeed washed, her hair was loose and gently curled to sit over one side of her face it seemed Vera had been helping her with make up as she had dark eye-liner on and warm pink lipstick but the main difference was her clothes. She had produced from somewhere a green dress; that to hide the fact it didn't quiet fit, had been tied in the middle with a yellow ribbon, he could see the full extent of her appealing figure but from this close up he could tell she was young, far to young for him to be staring at. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at his nails  
“Looks better than the boots and vest” He said with a sniff before turning to Mr Buckingham to get his usual order of noodles and a nuka “I will have to get Seagrave to remove half the wasteland out of the filters in the showers no doubt” He said with a smile  
“You're not funny.... how about I leave you to alone?” She said with a grin  
Harkness narrowed his eyes as she moved past, she still smelt of leather but it was pleasantly mixed with soap and the floral Honeysuckle,  Where did she get purfume from?  
“Lovely girl” Vera said with a smile making Harkness roll his eyes  
  
Time moved on and the sun had sunk down passed the buildings and Harkness was moving around the flight deck. It was mandatory for all citizen's to spend time above deck. Most did only a few made a problem out of it most chose the day when they could get some sun and have a pleasant enough stroll, but he liked pacing the deck in the evening it was nice to get moving after hours of standing watching over the market, it was nice to stretch his legs round the main but pretty dark deck before coming up to the little corner that led by the barracks. He stopped and leant over the railings to watch the ruins, strange to think he had only just been there that morning. without thinking about it his eyes slid to the brooding metro tunnel opening

"I say I’ll move the mountains, And I’ll move the mountains  
if he wants them out of the way  
Crazy he calls me, sure I'm crazy.  
Crazy in love I’d say”  
  
Harkness stopped and silently turned to look at the other side of the deck and down a level. He let his eyes adjust before he saw where the song was coming from  
  
“I say I’ll go through fire, and I’ll go through fire  
as he wants it, so it will be.  
Crazy he calls me, Sure I'm crazy.  
Crazy in love you see”  
  
Lou was sitting on the rusted deck her feet sitting out the dress her ankles crossed in delicate heeled shoes as she looked out into the ruins. She tilted her head and the hair gently fell in front of her face to the point his fingers twitched with wanting to brush it away

“Like the wind, that shakes the bower,  
He moves me with a smile.  
The difficult, I’ll do right now,  
the impossible will take a little while”  
  
She rested her head back against the side of the boat her lips curling slightly into a smile. Harkness gently dropped down from the deck to stand in the shadows watching her. He silently lent on the wall and let himself take in the girl with a smile

“I’ll say I’ll care forever, and I mean forever  
If I have to hold up the sky.  
Crazy he calls me, sure I'm crazy.  
Crazy in love Am I  
  
Like the wind, that shakes the bower;  
he moves me with a smile.  
The difficult I’ll do right now.  
The impossible will take a little while.  
  
I say I'll care forever and I mean forever,  
If I have to hold up the sky  
Crazy he calls me, sure I'm crazy.  
Crazy in love am I”  
  
"So you can sing huh?"  
His words were softly spoken but Lou jumped out of her skin and looked up at the man, her eyes wide as she clicked off the computer on her wrist  
"Didn't know someone was out here... thought I was alone"  
"You were... technically. I was on the upper deck"  
The women nodded and looked out at what was left of the city  
"Can I ask you something?" She asked  
"Do you know how to do anything else? What's with the dress?"  
She smiled and got up from her place she seemed to be graceful in the dress but he had to admit she did look a little out of place in it like a girl playing dress up. She gave a little twirl and ran her fingers along the fabric.  
“Vera wanted to dress me up and I let her. It was the least I could do after telling her about her brother”  
The two took a moment to give some respect to the recently dead before she turned her attention to watching him. For some reason he let her as he pretended something in the distance interested him  
"If you knew something about a person that they didn't even know themselves.... would you tell them?" She asked softly  
"Would they be in trouble if they didn't know?" He asked with a frown  
"They're in trouble either way.... Zimmer is looking for an android that ran away from his.... Institute. Says he might have changed his face and memory. If he find out and the android didn't know then he would be in danger and if the android knew then he might do something stupid where as if no one knew then the world could tick by and no one would know the difference and no one would get hurt... but Zimmer wouldn't leave and is it really fair to leave that Android without knowing who he really is"  
Harkness stopped for a moment his head spinning as he thought about the words. Trying to make sense of her thought process  
"I prefer it when your just bugging me with questions" He sighed "Do you know who he is?" He asked softly  
She silently shook her head and sighed it was simply her letting air out of her lungs but it was a pensive gesture  
"Did you really disarm that bomb?" He asked with a frown. Now standing next to this women he was finding the stories to be a little hard to believe  
"How did you know about that?" She asked softly her eyes searching his own  
"How do you think?" He said raising his eyebrow and pointing to the needle memorial standing above the ruins  
"Three dog need to keep his mouth shut" She said softly shaking her head  
For a moment she held his gaze, she seemed to be looking at his eyes then into them her own shining in the night.  
"I would tell him" He said softly  
She didn't say anything her hand brushed his the lightest of touches as she just nodded and turned to the door  
"I'm out here most nights when I'm in town" She said without turning round "So you know... you can avoid me"  
He didn't say anything just turned his back to the door and carried on watching the view  
“Lou” He said softly  
She stopped and watched his back  
“What?”  
“You do look nice”  
She didn't reply. He heard the door open and then close again leaving him alone


	2. Chapter 2

“ _Hey everybody this is three dog your friendly neighbourhood disc jockey. What's a disk? Hell if I know but I'm gonna keep talking anyway... we interrupt our regularly scheduled program for some news!  
__Ho! Oooh! Boy. Children you're going to love this! OK so I told you about James, the guy from the vault and then I told you somebody else crawled out there too? Right? Well guess who came to visit old three dog! In his luxurious studio in beautiful downtown DC that's right! The other vault dweller! Now you wanna know if it gets better don't you? Well hell yes it gets better! Turns out Vault dweller two was none other than James' kid I know! I know! I couldn't make this shit up! OK, but now it gets kind of sad you see the kid is looking for her dad, looking for James.  
__See James left 101 without telling the kid why, now I've since learned James is a scientist and is working on something big. Is that why he left the vault? Looks that way, so who knows maybe James is going to save the world? Can't think of a better cause than that.... But James if your listening your kids is out man and she's misses you, so you might want to find her before she get's swallowed up and spat out and for all you other cats out there listening if you see the kid from 101 out there give her a pat on the back. And wish her luck. Till next time this is three dog and your listening to Galaxy news radio bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts!”_  
  
The night was easily forgotten in Harknesses mind but he had to admit when he heard that song on the radio he couldn't help but think of her and he found himself whistling the tune as he did his walks along the deck but it was some days before she turned up again  
"Did you hear? looks like it's confirmed that android is in Rivet city" Vera gushed as she almost jumped on Harkness  
"You know I don't care unless he's getting in my way" He sighed  
"Louie says he came here looking for Pinkerton"  
"Well that proves it then. A girls chasing gossip that is looking for shadows" He said sitting down at the hotels only table and leaning back in his chair he was feeling good today and right now he just wanted to sit back and relax  
"There are rumours going round that Pinkerton is still around" She said putting his usual dinner down in front of him  
"And there is also rumours going about Seagrave trying to get on the counsel and that the Mirlurks are organised enough to storm the city through the access hatch at the bottom of the muddy rudder"  
"Scoff all you want John. but I will be looking at all my guest more carefully for anything out of the ordinary"  
Harkness sighed and rolled his eyes  
"Just don't go telling me if you think someone is a android or not. You wanna change the subject huh?" He asked resting his hand behind his head "How are you and the little lad getting on?"  
"He's a little nervous but he really is a smaller version of my brother defiantly going to grow up with his own mind  
Harkness nodded and took a drink as he sat contently  
“So where is she?” He called looking around  
“Who?” Vera asked  
“Louie. If she's not in the market selling she's here” Harkness said  
“Brian is showing her around the ship.”  
For a moment the two of them took the time existing together comfortably and for a second Harkness remembered sitting at home with his wife, her lovely little red and white kitchen the pride of her house. His chair by the window where he would sit and watch her cook and smoke his cigarettes  
“So you don't know a way to the bow of the ship?” A voice said from the doorway  
“No. I guess it's off limits” Brian sighed “Pa always told me not go snooping round where adults don't want you to go cause there's always a chance you'll get hurt”  
“Sounds like good advice that _you_  should listen to. But I don't always listen to adults. I'll look round and tell you what I find huh?”  
Brian came in and came to sit by the door but it seemed the women wasn't coming in. And for a moment Harkness wished she would have but then he suspected he didn't want to be asked questions  
For a moment he sat quietly and finished his dinner and cola trying not to rush. He grabbed the bottle cap from the table and stood  
“Time for a walk I think” He said trying not to sound like anything more than idle chat. He stepped out the door and was about to go left but stopped and looked round; she was standing by the hotel room door the expression on her face seemed to say that she expected to see him. For a moment the two of them looked at each other as Harkness walking over to stand in front of her. She seemed to be expecting him to say something, when he didn't he could almost see her thought process for a second she pondered something before opening her mouth  
“Don't” He said firmly his voice almost a whisper as he held up his hand  
“What?”  
Damn it she managed to get a question in  
“Don't ask me questions... just don't” He sighed “… Was wondering if you wanted to come for a walk with me?” He asked softly  
Harkness rested his hand on the metal behind her head and leaning in slightly. She took a breath in and let it out slowly before she reached out and adjusted his pouch on his belt letting her fingers linger for a second before dropping her hand back down  
“Been walking all day… I was thinking of spending some time laying down” She said softly  
She looked back along the walkway to the hotel lobby door and his eyes followed. There was movement, shadow was being cast on the floor where someone was trying to stand out of the way. He guessed Vera and he guessed she was listening. For a moment she turned back to him and he didn't; but when rough fingertips touched his cheek it made his attention snap back. She smiled and lifted her finger to show a spot of rust on her finger tip. Holding it up as she pushed herself off the wall closing the gap closer there lips a breath away before stepping back into the hotel room  
“Goodnight officer Harkness. Nice to see you again” she said her voice purposefully brisk and loud enough for the walls to hear  
“Goodnight Miss LeSanto” He said standing straight.  
He watched the door close and headed off to take his walk and try to figure out what that moment was. He needed air!  
  
“We're friends right?”  
Lou was sitting on the work bench in Flak and Shrapnel's playing with a gun she said she would fix for them. They had hesitantly agreed and to most peoples amusement she had climbed onto the bench and started working,  
She had sat cross legged on the bench with her hair pulled into a messy bun without much thought she started working pulling apart the sawed off shotgun, first removing the bottom of the stock and then dropping the barrel onto the bench and started stripping down the trigger mechanism working quickly and efficiently all the time cross legged on the table  
“It seems I have no choice since you won't leave me alone” He sighed as he watched her deft fingers; she was cleaning out the barrel pushing a circular brush through angling it so any muck fell on the cloth  
“Nope” She said with a grin “So... When did you last go out into the world?”  
For a moment he wanted to snap at her to mind her own buisness and go find somewhere else to stand but he didn't he just scanned the room. It was useless no one was around to distract her it as was nearly closing time and only the stall holders and the two of them were in the room  
“I'm too busy” Harkness said with a sigh  
“Too busy to leave for a couple of days?” She asked softly  
“Yes. These people need me”  
She changed to an oiled rag and started moving it through the barrel  
“It's just.... I have to clear out an area and I need someone with me”  
Harkness couldn't help but scoff and folded his arms across his chest  
“And you want me to come along? What do I get?”  
She let her legs dangle down the side of the bench as she took out a little file and started working to smooth out a burred clasp before testing the smoother mechanism  
“You'll get a twenty percent cut like anyone who I take with me” She said with a smile  
“So why can't the people who usually work for you do it?”  
Lou smiled and started to work putting the gun together as she watched him  
“They're busy... I need someone to come with me and I need someone who can fight” She sighed  
“Well I ain't your man” Harkness growled making her give him a gentle tap with her foot on his leg armour  
“I know your the one.” She said softly  
Harkness looked round at the market desperate to have something happen that meant he could cut the conversation short but annoyingly it seemed he was stuck, he looked round to her about to tell her to shut up and leave him alone. she was almost laying on the bench as she finished putting the gun together and looked at him with an almost feline look  
“Make ya a good amount of money” She said softly  
“Not interested in money” He sighed watching her eyes  
“I am. If you don't want a cut then I'm sure I could keep your share and you can work for free”  
He couldn't help it, he laughed and for a moment she smiled in thought  
“You have a good smile... should show it off more” she said softly  
“I'm the chief... I don't smile and I defiantly don't laugh” He said his voice just above whisper  
“Come with me. I'll make it worth your while”  
For a moment a conversation with the other guards came to him they were complaining about the quality of the gun they were issued with. They worked but they were old and were beginning to fail when needed  
“Alright.... But I don't want caps. I want gun's and ammo” He said sternly  
She grinned and patted his shoulder before sitting up and jumping down from the table to give the newly refurbished gun to Flak  
“Markets closing... get out of here. And I'll met you on the bridge first thing tomorrow”  
  
The two of them stood in front of the building as it loomed over them the bright harsh sun not even able to make the building look bright and welcoming, nothing could make it look welcoming  
The two had met on the bridge and it seemed she was insisting on keeping on her chunky armour. At first he was expecting her to be complaining within minutes of them setting off about her armour or showing some kind of fatigue but even he couldn't help be impressed with her stamina. They had ran at a slow lazy pace that seemed to be the difference between speed walking and jogging but it was a brisk enough pace and low impact on the legs. The two of them travelled along the river bank keeping to the more peaceful area's of the ruins and then out into the vast wasteland there was more space out here than he remembered and at first he had the urge to hesitate, years of living behind walls had made him hesitant of open spaces and he had to wonder how she had made it as long as she did travelling alone through the wasteland. They bypassed Megaton and kept to the ancient roads it seemed she preferred those to cutting across, it seemed longer but at least there wasn't much of a chance of being caught in an ambush if you had at least the roads width open or getting caught on the edge of a cliff and have to double back for miles, they travelled west from there most the time. She would stop from time to time and point out distant area's and he would see raider camps or structures that seemed friendly enough but she didn't have much interest in going near. They did have an incident where there were a line of hunters walking quietly along. She stopped and knelt and for a moment Harkness thought this could be his chance to show off his own fighting skills they were a good fifty yards away as she brought out her rifle. It was resembling a hunting rifle but it was in damn good condition.... no it had been repaired very well. She brought up the gun and laid her cheek on the stock before looking down the barrel she took three deep breaths the last she took deep and held it in before she breathed out pursing her lips together and letting out the lung full in a slow and controlled manner. Three bullets slipped through the air in quick succession almost fast enough that it sounded like an automatic rifle. Without any fuss the three were dead, head shots each one of them  
“That was impressive” He said “And scary”  
She turned and gave him a grin that made him shake his head  
“Your a scary women you know that?.... why did you kill them”  
She stood and put the gun back on her shoulder. She was so quiet out here in the world it was like she didn't dare talk as they moved over to the three dead bodies. She stripped them of their armour and guns putting them in her ever present bag but when it came to some meat she looked it over before throwing it out into the ground  
“They're cannibals. Selling human flesh to unsuspecting people, you want to eat people fine. But they're not telling people what they're giving them”  
“You're all right with what they do just not forcing it on others”  
“You wanna eat someone, whatever. You ain't the first and you won't be the last but... it's not right making someone into something they don't want to be”  
That was the only time he saw her put her gun up against a person the whole trip. The rest of the time she avoided them. They stopped in at a little speck called Girdershade were it seemed she had befriended a women who lived alone. They chatted for a while and she gave over a few bottles of something and then they carried on moving by the time they got to the building it seemed she was interested in he was more than impressed by her stamina the two of them had ran most the day in the slow steady pace she preferred and she wasn't so much as sweating when they finally stopped in the buildings car park.  
“So. Do you go everywhere in the armour?” He asked as they watched the building  
“Everywhere I'm allowed” She said with a grin “Where security isn't a pain in my ass about it”  
For a moment he thought she was pushing him and trying to start a fight but then he looked into her eyes and saw she was just gently teasing  
“Sometimes the world just brings back what you are” He sighed “So what's so special about this place?”  
Lou stopped and turned to watch Harkness  
“Now look who has all the questions” She teased  
“I think it's a damn valid question since were about to go into this place”  
“There's ammo... and well I was talking to Lucky on the caravans and he said he had seen some guy heading into this place... it was a long while ago and he said he was going to spend a while in here then catch Lucky on the way back round. He never came back but he might still be alive or...”  
“He might have been looking for something of value?”  
She nodded and played with her rifle, a nervous gesture in his opinion  
“Why the obsession with caps?” He asked softly “Most don't even bother with more than barter but here you are running all over the map to get money”  
“Not just money... I keep the good equipment too” She said with a grin  
It seemed the conversation was over as she moved to check the door. It swung open easily and the two of them were looking at a dark hole of the doorway. The place was pitch black.  
“What's this place called then?” He asked softly as Harkness came to stand by the doorway  
  
“The Dunwich building”


	3. Chapter 3

“ _Hey kiddies! This is three dog bow wow. Your voice in the darkness or at least the radiation…_ _now listen close to this public service announcement just a friendly reminder to all you would be bigots out there ghouls are people too, you see children. Ghouls are simply humans that have been exposed to an ungodly amount of radiation and haven't had the good fortune to die. Sure they may look like hideous Zombies from an old monster flick but their hearts, their souls their tears are all very much human. So please if you meet one of the capitol Wastelands many ghouls leave your prejudice at the door and your pistol in it's holster ah yes! One important Cavan kiddies those feral ghouls who prefer the dark dank underground? They are basically mindless Zombies so kill as many of them as damn you please! And now some music”  
  
_ As they stepped in Harkness had to fight the urge to step back out into the light but he simply stood his ground and looked about  
“Can you see a damn thing?” He asked softly  
His voice echoed and for a moment she stiffened. She brought her finger up to her lips and moved silently along the hallway. Right in the doorway were two ammo boxes but what made them both swollow was the skeleton laying next to them and the long trail of blood. It seemed she was going to ignore that as she didn't hesitate to empty the boxes even flicking the hand off of them, she knelt down and fished out the ammo handing him a couple of magazines filled with 5.56 cals that fit his gun. He stayed in the hallways his eyes concentrating on the darkness as she went to check out and pry open a wall dispensers, finding something to pocket before coming back with an other item in her hand  
“What are they?” He asked softly  
“Holotapes” She said  
“They're junk.... no one will want them. No one can play them” He said with a shrug  
She didn't reply just brought up her pip-boy computer. She slipped them into a slot and recorded them onto the device. With a few button pushes she had committed them to her device and slipped them away  
She was about to talk when they heard something that made them both freeze the rasping call of a feral ghoul. Her eye's grew wide and she shook her head one foot went back and she started to rest her weight on it  
“No... not ghouls” She hissed.  
She was scared of them? The women who didn't blink at killing people or even registered killing super mutants in the ruins was scared of ghouls  
“I really really don't like those damn things” She hissed  
She started to back up towards the door when he caught her hand  
“If someone came in here and there are ghouls then there a chance he's alive but in need of help” He whispered his tone firm  
For a moment she looked at the door that was less than a yard away. Outside was sunshine and warmth and relative safety but it seemed his words had gotten to her as she grimaced and swore quietly  
“I really hate them” She repeated. “We used to hear stories in the vault about them. Creatures that hide in the shadows they can smell blood and fear, terrified of the light they kill anyone who uses it, they rip you apart, eat your flesh while your still alive” she shuddered  
It occurred to him that she was from a vault. He knew she wasn't lying about such things but something about it made him think about the idea that she was _the_  vault dweller that three dog kept telling everyone about. For her to be surviving this well in the world after living her life in that place. It was impressive he suddenly felt a little more respect for the girl. But he suspected it would be short lived  
“Then kill them all and we'll get the hell out of here. But after we know what happened” His fingers laced between hers and he gave her a gentle pull into the building. He bite down on his own fear; he sympathised with her, he didn't like the feral ghouls either once in a while one would come to the river bank from the tunnels and they would put them down quick enough before dumping them in the river they always made him shudder but this, what she had was pure fear as her hand shook in his.  
She reluctantly allowed him to bring her back up the hallway as she defensibly pulled her hand back. The two of them looking left to right to see which doors led where when her eyes grew wide.  
Harkness just had time to duck as the barrel was bought up and into where his head had just been. The gun muzzle flashed and hot particles of gun powder hit the back of his neck and hands, something slammed into him; he spun round bringing his gun up one ghoul lay dead at his feet the body had been the thing to slam into him. His eyes saw movement in the darkness and without thinking about it he tracked in and pulled the trigger a second ghoul fell to the floor just in the circle of light given off from Louie's pip-boy  
  
“I really must confess.  
I'm a weary exile  
singing my song of loneliness!"  
  
A radio was playing in the room making both of them stop. No more movement but a single light shone down onto the radio as it sat on the desk. Harkness moved first gently taking her hand he led her into the room it seemed she really had a phobia for feral ghouls. No one liked them but to be this terrified of them was another thing all together. The two walked into the room and he picked up a sixth holotape before turning off the radio. The silence slammed in around them as she committed the tape to the computer  
“What do they say?” He asked softly  
She played them and for a moment he thought maybe there was nothing on them but it seemed she was listening to something  
“The guy who talked to the traders. And was seen going in here. He was looking for his dad. Seems he thought he had come in here”  
“You hear it?”  
She nodded and held up the computer.  
“It's powered by me and it's wired in... can't take it off but it means you get certain perks. One is being able to hear radio signals without them blaring out into the world” She said softly  
“Cybernetics of the past huh?” He said softly with a laugh  
“Still good and solid” She sighed wiping the muck off the pip-boy “Come on”  
They swept the first floor clear and moved up into the second she was right there was a good amount of ammo scattered about the building in ammo crates it seemed everyone was a little paranoid before the war people seemed to hide guns and ammo everywhere. They took out a further four ghouls quickly dispatching them and moving on without much ceremony.  
Harkness watched silently from behind as she moved with tense confidence. She would walk along sweeping her line of sight with the rifle raised, then move crouched and hugging the wall before opening doors. The two seemed to move up and down levels without much problem until they walked through one corridor into a room. For a split second he didn't see what happened. He didn't see the cause of her freezing and falling flat on her ass. Louie stopped and rubbed her eyes she was for a moment stunned, she fell back against him  
Bright glowing yellow light came into Harkness' line of sight and he pulled out his rifle with quick precision, he pulled the trigger and brought down the damn thing ploughing bullet after bullet into the ghoul before it finally fell down still, she regained her sight and looked about ready to fire only to find the target already taken care of  
“What happened?” He asked softly  
“Nothing” She said her tone firm “Lets just finish the sweep and get the hell out of here  
  
She seemed to have much more determination to her steps as they moved through the building until they came to one room. It was almost comic if it hadn't been for the danger they had opened a door and she had stopped so abruptly that he walked straight into her for a moment she clawed for the doorway but it was no good she was going over. The floor in the room had collapsed and they had nearly walked out into thin air. He tried to grab at her armour, but it was over to quickly his fingertips grabbed a plate but it just slipped through his fingers. she fell onto what was left on the floor and slid into the black the last thing was her hand reaching up for his  
“Lou!” Harkness shouted but he could already hear the sound of running feet hear the scream coming from the other side of the darkness. There was the sound of gun fire and the room shook dangerously from years of neglect. He crouched and dropped onto the floor and then again tried to slow his decent onto the blackness. He saw the ghouls running and for a moment he didn't know what to do, try to find her or take on the ghoul  
“ _You heard the shot's, she's able to fight. Take on the ghoul!”_ his mind commanded  
He held his rifle out and pulled the trigger tracking the shape as it ran towards him. It dropped and then another came, for a moment he was just locked in there was no time to think, no time to do anything other than fight. Three or four of the damn things came running from somewhere but now they all lay dead.  
When no more could be heard he turned his attention to finding Louie. Luckily the light from her pip-boy was alight and he was able to see her. She had fallen between the rubble and had gotten wedged in it seemed she had managed to get herself into a sudoe-firing position as a ghoul lay dead in front of her but she did look uncomfortable  
“I seem to be unable to get up” She said trying to grab at something to help pull her back round but finding nothing and the wall stopping her from rolling the other way  
With a little persuasion and some threatening he finally helped her up into a sitting position gripping her armour and haling her up with a laugh  
“The last tape suggests we're too late. He was most likely was one of the one's we killed” She said softly looking up at Harkness  
“So we're giving up and leaving?” He asked  
Something in him sunk. Something was disappointed with the idea of heading back so soon  
“I was thinking, we could make sure and if we find out he is one of them, then at least we've put him out of his misery?” she contemplated  
She was sat against the wall and he came to join her taking a moment to have a break. Without any discussion The two brought out some food he was about to drink the dirty water from his bottle when she took it off him and scanned it with her pip-boy before opening it and pouring the content on the floor  
“Shouldn't drink ditch water” She sighed  
“What should I drink?” He demanded annoyed at her actions  
“This” she gave him a bottle and he expected it in the dim light. It was clear. He opened the cap and sniffed, it smelt of nothing. He couldn't believe it she had just giving him some pure water... for free For a moment he examined further and frowned  
“This is pure?” He asked tilting the liquid this way and that  
“Got a robot that condenses moisture in the air.... you can syphon him off”  
Harkness took a moment to open the bottle and take a gulp. He never thought clean water would taste.... of nothing. He took another gulp and for a moment savoured the washed feeling of his pallet, no after taste, no grit on his tongue  
“I grew up with fresh water... Doctor Li told me I couldn't drink the radiated stuff... would do me far more damage so I have to be careful to keep fresh water with me” She said with a smile  
“Because of living in the vault?”  
She nodded before chewing on some meat she had in her pack.  
“And since your with me you get the benefits like fresh clean water and as much food as you need”  
The two of them watched each other and for a second she was taking in his features her eyes wandered to his lips before she turned back to look into the darkness  
“Why Rivet City?” She asked suddenly  
“Why what?” He said with a frown  
“Why stay there... I know it's safe and works for everyone but your a good fighter. And an expert shot so why stay in Rivet city. Why not walk with a caravan's or find your own fortune... could even come with me?”  
The last bit hung in the air as both considered the idea. He was about to figure if he should let her down with a “This life isn't for me” Or joke about how she would probably skim off his taking's till he owed money each time he came out. He shrugged and went for the truth  
“As you say. I'm a great fighter and an expert shot... they need me”  
She thought it through and nodded but he got the impression there was something left unsaid  
“Did I tell you? I found Pinkerton” She said changing the subject  
“No” That was a surprise. He would have put money on that old story being a lie or a ghost story “Where?”  
“Bow of the ship. The old coot's been hanging out down there since he left. Seems he wasn't ready to leave completely”  
Harkness let that sink in and he nodded  
“So you know who the mystery android is?” He asked  
She nodded and chewed on the last chunk of meat  
“Yeah....”  
He nodded and watched her  
“Not telling huh?”  
She shook her head  
“Not till I tell them... But then I promise, you'll be the first to know”  
With that she stood, there was evidence she was hiding an injury but he didn't push it he simply followed suit.  
“Come on” She sighed

She tried to hide the limp she had developed from the fall but she didn't make a fuss and he suspected trying to approach her about it now wouldn't go down too well, so he simply kept quiet as they swept the room taking anything off the bodies before heading to the final door. At first it was stiff but they managed to shove it out the way to peer into the deep hole and dim area that lay below.  
“Big hole” He said softly  
“Yep”  
“We going down there?”  
Lou pointed to a holotape sitting on a desk that had fallen down into the hole  
“Yep” She said with a sigh  
It took them a while to get down mainly since there was no rope or anything to use they had to turn themselves into a human ladder. Harkness lowered himself down onto the lower level with Louie holding his arms to slow his drop and then when he had determined it was safe she swung down the loot bag and then lowered herself into his arms. The last time was a little further and she was forced to remove the armour and drop that down which was an argument in it's self as she seemed more than a little hesitant to strip and Harkness was getting more than a little impatient  
“So you'll stand on the river bank in your damn underwear and do ya stretches but you wont take off the armour so you don't crush me!” Harkness snapped  
A head appeared from the platform  
“You were watching me!” She demanded  
“You were standing in front of the damn boat. Did ya not think that half the damn city could see you!” He snapped back  
“A women should be allowed to do her stretches where ever and in whatever she wants!” she sniffed  
“I am not having this debate with you. Take off the damn armour!”  
He looked up just in time to see the helmet get flung at his head with enough vigour it stung his palms when he caught it  
“Good now how about you aim for my head with the chest plate!”  
She looked over again and this time he could see in her eyes she was worried  
“What if we get attacked and I don't have time to get dressed in it again?”  
“Then I'm here aren't I” He sighed  
“You'll protect me huh?” She said softly  
“I will Lou... If you need it, I will”  
The head disappeared again but this time the armour pieces were thrown down gently and a set of feet dangled down clothed in nothing but the thin leather body suit  
“Nothing grab my feet, nothing grab my feet” She whispered  
she let go and Harkness grabbed her slowing her decent and helping her land gently. His arms wrapped round her and for a little while they stayed that way; his breath playing on her skin. She closed her eyes and let out a breath slowly as she rested her hands on his shoulders.  
“Well least you didn't miss” She whispered  
“Now will you stop being such a baby?” He teased softly.   
Lou rolled her eyes and shifted her weight and he wondered if she knew what she was doing to him physically, for a second his hands moved to the base of her spine but he caught himself in time; he put his hands on her hips for a second he unable to do the right thing as he just took in her scent, his body wanted to pull her closer. logic took over and he softly pushed them apart. Stepping back to brake all contact  
She started to to strap the armour back on and plugging it back in. And he quietly watched his arms folded over his chest. Once she was suited back up the two looked at the doorway left to them and she let out a shuddering breath.  
“Last bit... maintenance tunnels”  
They opened the door and then the two of them listened, Lou seemed to shudder against the feeling that came from the air itself, maintenance tunnels seemed to be clear but you never could tell  
“We really going in there?” He asked softly  
She silently nodded and brought up her gun. They made their way silently through until they came to a doorway that led to a cave. It was simply a natural tunnel that must have been found by the makers of the building and they had incorporated into the building. With a metal walkway put in she guessed they had used it for storage of the bigger more sensitive things many many years ago. She had heard of companies taking advantage of the natural cold air in caves to keep software and big computers cool. But this was a natural cave no steel and glass just dirt and darkness. Nothing came out of the world at them and Harkness started to relax a little. The door had been closed maybe none of the ghouls had gotten into that area? He was about to tell her they should just turn back. When something whispered in his ear and he spun round to find nothing but the closing darkness behind. She was watching him as she clicked off her light and the darkness pressed in further feeling oppressive in it's renewed promise of danger. They both let their eyes adjust to the dark before moving as silently as possible.

The tunnel led round to the left before finally stopping at the top of the walkway there was a set of step that led down into a cavern. It seemed there was something giving off light that was hitting the particles in the dust given the cavern an unsettling green glow. There seemed to be a monolith in the middle almost a carved pillar but it wasn't what they were watching. Around the entire thing stood ghouls of every shape and size. More than they could take on with a couple of rifles and a couple of pistols; he went to turn to her and to whisper that they should just go and jam the door behind them when the shot rang out.  
The world slowed and Harkness watched the only fully dressed ghoul's head exploded and suddenly the twenty ghouls spun to stare at the top of the stairs there huge dead eyes, staring at the two of them. Louie was up grabbing his arm, she pulled him with her and he had no choice but to either fall or get up. The sound of running feet was close behind them as they sprinted back to the door it was a tight fit but they both got through and slammed the door. Even with both of them pinning the door closed the ghouls nearly rammed the door open as they hit themselves into it and more doing so behind  
“What the hell?” He demanded over the din.  
She wasn't paying attention she was trying to kick over a fire extinguisher and still keep her weight against the door, it was splintering rapidly the ancient wood falling apart with the constant battery.  
She stretched out and hooked the top of the extinguisher with her rifle, pulling it closer and started to tie a landmine to it with an old rifle strap  
“Move, up the stairs!” She shouted  
Both moved and only had a moment to get out from past the area before the door shattered, she pulled out her pistol as they ran up the stairs and pulled the trigger the landmine blow and so did the extinguisher. Luckily the metal of the stairs shielded them as her impromptu bomb blew or at least most of them. He heard her stumble and cry out behind him but he could feel her hand on his belt she was still behind him. Parts of ghouls scattered everywhere, the dead hindering the live ones. But they were at the top she lent over the railings and dropped four grenades into the stairwell. The explosion knocked them back through the door and the very building threatened to collapse on them. No time to stop, no time to be careful, the two of them got to their feet and already starting to run. They headed out through the door and out into the building's entrance way there was no sound of running behind them but that could have been because of the explosions leaving them half deaf. Panic had gripped firmly as Louie was sprinting to the exit. They shoved the doors open and burst out into the cold night air. How long had they been in there? Days? Or just one day? She came to a stop resting her hands on her knees as she fought for breath.  
After a few moments of catching their breath they stopped and looked over at the building both waiting to see if anything had followed, for a long time nothing could be heard except the sound of them both breathing heavily. Nothing followed they were free and safe  
“Everyone you walk away from” She said with a nervous laugh

"Why did you do that? Why did you risk it!” he was annoyed her mucking about could have killed them both all for one damn ghoul  
“Because....”she simply said  
He watched her waiting for her to carry on  
“Because what? You wanted to blow shit up!?” He demanded  
“No!. Because that was Jamie!”  
“Who the fuck is that?” Harkness demanded moving closer  
“The man on the tape! The man we said we would finish off!”  
The two of them were standing inches apart and from here he could see her pulse thumping in her neck. She was breathing heavily as she glared at him with bright defiant eyes she was literally high on adrenaline to the point she was trembling  
“I said I would put him out of his misery. I did that,” She hissed  
He could see how this women had lived so well in a world she was forced into, she was a fighter. It ran through every inch of her, it wasn't trained into her she wasn't someone who became a warrior, She was born a fighter, she had always been one. Images of possible moments together flashed through his mind as he silently cursed the armour between them, the longings he felt was sudden, overwhelming and surprising in its intensity of them  
“Then we did what we went in there to do” He said softly  
“And we got paid” She said her tone annoyed but there was no heat to it “Keep your ammo”  
“There's a lot of it. More than I need to get back with” He said the heat gone from his words as they stood watching each other  
“I know. But you earned it”  
He almost saw the adrenaline run dry in her; she paled and backed off quickly her leg becoming heavy by the way she held herself the pain finally registering  
“Come on. There's a shelter up here. We'll head back in the morning” She called  
  
The fire shone through the little door of the abandoned caravan Lou had guessed it was the one used by the guy before going into the building but it was clean...ish and covered. There was an old mattress and what looked like a car bench seat slung in there for good measure. They had built a fire just outside the door and Harkness was helping her off with the armour. The top had come off easily but the bottom was another matter. It seemed the leg panel had taken some shrapnel and had buckled, something punctured her thigh she was lucky but the only way to get it off safely was to lift it off the wound, with a little bit of Jet in her system and med-x along her thigh he was able to get it off and have a look at the wound  
“How bad?” She groaned  
“No too bad.... you can seal it up easily”  
“Oh no you're gonna have to do that” She said  
Harkness looked down at the cut it would be in awkward place for her to fix by herself as it was to the back of the leg he hesitantly touched her thigh and running his fingers from her hip up her leg with nothing but the lightest of contact stopping at the side of the wound, she lay back resting her leg up on his shoulder, her head back and her eyes closed, wincing in pain  
“Ready” he asked trying to remember the women was bleeding and in pain. He was helping her that was all but it was hard while in this position  
“As I'm ever gonna be” She hissed  
He pinched the skin together with one hand and with the other hand he pressed the stimpack into the skin. The agent flowed into the wound and bubbled up within second the flesh was bonded together and the bleeding had stopped there would be a pink scar by morning and gone in a week. She lay there for a moment and Harkness sat next to her.  
She got into her usual white vest and combat trousers after the bonding had worked completely and then they eat dinner almost in silence  
“You thinking about that statue thing in the cave?” She asked after they had eaten in silence  
“Nope” Harkness declared “Stuff like that you just turn away from. Stuff that will make you question everything you know about your life... Just ignore it, cause if you don't you'll second guess everything down the smallest thing”  
“So you're just meant to move on?” She asked softly  
“Yeah” He said with a shrug  
“So if something life changing happened to you... what would you do?”  
For a moment he thought about the words before turning his attention to her. What was she getting at?  
“Depends on the situation. I thought marriage would change my life. I thought service would but none of it changed me... Even when I fell into a coma and my wife disappeared it didn't change me. No.. it did, made me cautious”  
She nodded and looked into the flames. There was something she wasn't telling him questions like that weren't just idle thoughts  
"Why were you in a coma?" She asked softly  
And that was why he didn't want her asking damn questions  
"Overdose... Too many pills, too much drink without Maria there I just kept trying to drink away the thoughts then one night I tried to shut them up for good"  
The two sat silently for a moment and she sighed softly. No quiet I'm sorry's no trying to make the situation less tense, she just watched the flames for a moment before taking a gulp of water  
“We should go to bed” He said softly, he wasn't going to push the situation he always hated admitting the suicide attempt to anyone. Not that anyone past his close friends knew about it.  
She smiled her usual teasing grin and he rolled his eyes not really in the mood for her shit right now  
“What time we leaving in the morning?”  
“Early. Best to get going at dawn. Get you back in plenty of time”  
“I have to admit. I miss my walls” He yawned  
The day had been a long one and he was feeling dog tired as they climbed into the the caravan  
“How do you want to do this?” He asked  
“Well when the fire burns down it's gonna get real cold. Best share” She said with a shrug  
It is hard to share a queen sized mattress in a platonic way the room wasn't really enough and to make it beneficial the two of them had to keep close together. In the end it seemed they were going to go for the most sensible plan and spoon. He was laying on his side with his arms under his head and she shifted to run parallel with his body but it was very awkward specially for him as she was rather warm against his front and he was trying to keep very calm  
“There is something I was hoping I could ask you but I have never known how to do it” She said suddenly  
Her voice brought him back out of his near sleep state, she tilted her head to look at him  
“This the moment?” He asked with a sigh  
“Well... probably not. But tomorrow you'll be Chief Harkness again and I wont have a captive audience”  
“Then ask?” He said figuring she wasn't going to leave this be  
“Were you looking to bed Vera or did you wanna marry her? Cause…” She shook her head to the end of the conversation and rolled onto her side again “Forget it. It doesn't matter. None of my business"  
He was very much awake now. He couldn't help but see her as a young women and for her to be asking that took him by surprise.   
“She’s alright… I guess” He sighed “I like women who are feminine, all dresses and make up… Vera is a stand up girl and she always looks good. I know Seagrave has thought the same thing, heard him asking if she would consider him... Don't know If I would ever go so far as to asking her but only cause I don't know if I'll ever do that again”  
For a moment Louie stopped and thought about the words before she nodded  
“So are you... in love with her?”  
For a moment Harkness truly thought about the question and shook his head, he shifted position letting his hand idly lay on his hip his fingertips brushing the fabric that lay on her own hips  
“If it came to it. no” He sighed  
“I did wonder.” She asked softly  
Slowly Lou moved into his body again her hips rocking a little making his mind race, she reached round to take his hand and he considered pulling it back but he didn't, he would be lying if he said he didn't want to. She rolled onto her back and lay the hand on her stomach letting her fingers move along his hands and wrists and gently up his arms it was odd to have someone touch him like this, paying him no attention and all of theirs at the same times. The fingers taking in every inch of his skin he wanted to do something about it but right now all he could think was to let her. He tried convincing himself it was totally innocent there was nothing going on  
“You feel warm” She said with a soft laugh  
He let his fingers play with the fabric on her stomach and smiled  
“So do you” He whispered  
Her fingers moved up to run along his neck and jaw and finally the index finger traced the very bottom of his lip the nail only being the part to just touch his lip after she had moved her finger he couldn't help but briefly suck his bottom lip and watch her  
“So you like… feminine women huh?” she said with a teasing smile  
Silently he nodded his own fingers playing along her stomach as long as he kept to the fabric then it was innocent... What was he doing! Realization hit as his hands ran along the belt on her trousers his nails briefly catching the buckle  
“You know I'm nearly twice your age...over in fact” He said softly  
She lent up and let her lips linger on his, her hand cupping his jaw it was nothing but a gaze of her lips but it was enough for his arm to wrap tightly round her and pull her into him  
“I really don't care. Do you?” she asked  
For a moment he let his mind actually think and tried to stop his body from simply reacting but it was hard, she kissed him and before he knew what was going on she was laying on him his arm had pulled her over onto him and his hands were moving along her leg and hips. She was so... young, so supple; her skin tight and firm, he couldn't help but feel lust for her. He was a red blooded man after all  
“You’re… real damn good looking, you feel so good and it's been a very long fucking while since I wanted anyone this much...” He tried  
She leant down and kissed him her lips lingering on his bottom lip  
“But it probably ain't right for me to take advantage” He managed.  
He was going to get his word out, he was determined  
“You aren't.” She whispered “I am someone who probably won’t live that long… My fate has pushed me in a path that is going to lead to the barrel of a gun some day. I accept that, but before that happens I want to know the feel and touch of a man. Not just a boy.”  
She rocked her hips gently and he let out a lustful growl  
“I need to feel you in me” She whispered her hips going for a particularly long forceful rub against his own body  
Harkness closed his eyes trying to keep his thought calm but there was no way of doing that... His hands ran up to her hair it fell to the side covering his fingers even her hair felt good against his skin! he gently sat up to kiss her one hand moving down to cup her ass. For a moment the two stayed kissing in an almost chaste way their lips simply touching and braking away each stop he would take a breath as if giving her a chance to change her mind. He was happy he had said his piece and she had listened. He had voiced his concerns and now he intended to do everything he could with her. Her tongue slipped past his lips and ran itself across his and it was too much. His hands were searching for zips, buckles and ties and so were hers it was dark as the fire was died down without no one to tend it. but in the caravan it was warm as she broke off the kiss to sit up. He took the time to pull off her vest to see her breasts in the glow of the embers, he couldn't help but marvel at the pure skin of someone who had grown up without radiation scarring or tainting by medication. His hand ran up her skin and cupped her breast gently his lips taking her nipples into his mouth, his tongue playing over them, her hands running through his hair. He kissed the skin his hands running down her body and taking her waist. He moved her firmly laying her down on the mattress while he took his time kissing and licking her skin moving from her neck to her collarbone kissing above her heart and breastplate. She groaned softly as his lips connected with the sensitive skin of her nipples again, her hands running through his hair then down to his waist as she pulled off his shirt and ran her nails along his back making him shudder and her giggle.  
“Most guys would be desperate to get in” She said softly  
“Oh trust me. I intend to take my time. While I have a captive audience” He whispered as he kissed her stomach. The day and exhaustion forgotten as he marvelled at the softness and perfection of such a body  
His hand cupped her back and she obligingly arched it, her skin smelt of leather from the bodysuit and it tasted almost sweet as he watched her wiggle and shift under his touch. Her legs draped over his shoulders onto his back and she closed her eyes in pleasure as he took his time licking her thighs, grazing his teeth along the sensitive flesh. It was highly amusing to him especially when he had to cover her mouth to stop her from screaming. They had scanned the area for any enemies but that was a while ago and sound travelled at night in the wasteland. Even worst than a raider or a hunter finding them would be a good meaning someone who thought they were coming to a women's rescue  
By the time he was making his way back up her body she was begging for him to simply take her. Her legs hadn't left him and they were now wrapped round his waist as she watched his face in the near dark  
“I wonder.... How good is your stamina? You've kept up with me so far” She asked with a laugh in her voice  
“Even now you can think of god damn questions to ask” He laughed  
She was rocking her hips against him but he was trying to resist as he lay his arm above her head his hands playing with her hair. Nothing would make him rush this moment. He took his time to take in her features, his hand gently tracing the side of her face, his thumb running along her cheek as it touched her lips; she sucked the tip and gently grazed her teeth against it as he slowly inch by inch moved into her; she closed her eyes and sighed as she rocked her hips up to greet him  
He tried to keep calm as every sense went into over drive. She lent her head into his shoulder kissing the skin and moving up along his neck her lips resting by his ear encouraging him. The two kept wrapped in their world most of the night but they were heavily asleep by the time the sun came up. Lou had fallen asleep with his arm laying over her and his hand resting on her left shoulder and his head tucked into her right and for the first time in a long time they both slept a dreamless sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

_"She had damn near drowned_ _in the river narrowly missing_ _very_ _sharp and_ _very_ _deadly metal spikes before groping round in dark flooded sections_ _only to have to fight off the damn Mirlurks but she_ _had_ _fought her way_ _avoiding a sequence of traps until she found her way_ _into the hidden lab all that build up only to find a rather bad tempered old man who seemed annoyed that someone had found him. But he had told her what she needed to know_ _mainly after threatening to kill him  
_ “ _Fine whatever. This android, calls himself Harkness now, comes in and want's a memory job. I took new memories and replaced his old ones. Don't believe anyone has done that before. certainly not down here. That commonwealth tech isn't all that fancy when it comes down to it, that android flesh ain't that different from ours I kept some notes so I could rub it in Doctor Li's face”_ _The man was wondering off topic most likely symptomatic of spending so long without human interaction  
_ “ _Sorry you don't get on with Li... But we were and discussing the android?” She demanded getting a little tired of the man's attitude but guessing the best way for her to get what she wanted was not to say the first comments that come into her mind  
_ “ _That witch ruined my life. But your right.. who gives a crap about that. You want your precious proof”_ _he sneered  
__He produced a holotape and gave it to her.  
_ “ _Pictures and a recording Straight from the synthman's lips. Just don't go telling Harkness, he wont believe you anyway. And you really don't want to see him upset. He can be a bit... Inhospitable”  
__Why did it have to be him?_ _It had to be, because life is that much of an asshole_

When Louie awoke she couldn't help but watch him sleep. She had slept well through what was left of the night, the first time in a long time. At some point rolling over to tuck her head into his chest, he felt warm and safe but realization hit hard when she thought about what had happened, Pinkerton's voice still ringing in her head  
Had she fallen for him? She had thought him good looking when they had met. Good looking yes, Abrasive, defiantly but then she was always being accused of that too. She put it down as a little crush finding someone she could focus on instead of the constant feeling of being alone, someone she hoped understood her. Then the more time she spent round him she was finding the crush just didn't fade, even when she found out it didn't change her opinion she'd even hoped it would make her feelings leave. Telling herself he was just an android and that it wasn't right to be thinking like that about him, but her feelings didn't change. Now she really needed to make her mind up; let him carry on as Harkness, Tell Zimmer he was dead and let him carry on as he was. Or give him the memories he once possessed and hope he didn't hate her for it..... It was just a shame last night happened. She didn't regret it but it made things much more difficult it was the last time she let her hormones do the thinking. but last night having him laying against her, she couldn't control herself she had to be with him.  
Realistically was there a future here with him? Could he fit into her plans for the future? He didn't age. the two of them would be the same age one day and then he would watch her grow older and die... if she ever managed to make it out of this journey alive. One of the many good things about her situation was she could go into a place without worrying about what is in there or if anyone would miss her if she caught a shotgun to the face. but could she still do the stuff she did if she was thinking about someone left behind?  
It wasn't worth the risk... He was, but there was too much at stake. Best to stick the knife in and cut out her own heart, get it over with now before she got any more attached. Once again she lay her fingers on his temple and ran them down his cheek and jawline her fingers stopping on his chin as she took a moment to etch the peaceful look in her mind she let her fingers move back along his chin and cup the cheek before she gave him a gentle slap making him grunt with a jump and frown  
"Come on sleeping beauty. Time to get moving again. We got a long walk back to megaton" She said as loudly as she dared  
He opened his eyes and looked up at her with a smile that made her stomach tense and her heart thump  
"Do we have to get going straight away?" He asked rolling on his back and stretching up the best he could in the cramped conditions  
Oh it was so very tempting. His broad shoulder and the thin fabric of the jumpsuit that hid those sculpted chest and abs memories of his sculpted body flashed into her mind. Someone at the commonwealth really did know how to make a good body  
"I'd say. It's a good days walk before we can drop off and get you back to your boat"  
For a moment the two looked at each other his hand moved to run over her arm but she knew that would be too much. That would distract her completely and she would give in  
"Maybe it's best if you don't" She said softly biting down on her emotions  
Before he could talk she stood and went to grab her things.  
"And why's that?" He called refusing to let this go  
"Because...." She called  
She moved out the caravan and took a moment to stretch her arms up into the sky and felt her joints clinking into place her head looking up as she breathed in and out, take this one breath at a time. She took a moment to let the sun warm her through demanding she get a hold of herself. She only had a few more hours to figure if she was going to tell him or not  
""Because" isn't a sentence or a valid explanation.... Just tell me if you regret it" His voice was firm and if she didn't know he had thicker skin he almost sounded hurt  
"I don't. Really I don't" She said firmly "But..."  
She cursed her reluctance to tell him the truth but it wasn't a good idea. It had been her plan all along to hopefully get him to understand in the safety of nowhere then have him decide, if he wanted to leave he had a days head start but now she was hesitant was she worried he would leave? Did she hope that last night was enough to make him feel that it was worth staying? How do you tell someone you are worried to love them because your worried they don't truly know if they are capable of feeling love.  
"I just think we aren't a good match. You have your world and I have... this"  
She gestured around them and for a moment he watched her  
"You realize I can read your expressions. I know when your lying..." He said firmly keeping his tone and emotions separate  
"And Am I?" She demanded folding her arms trying to keep her expressions blank  
"No. but your holding something back"  
"Maybe that's something I want to hold back" She snapped  
The two of them had dressed in the night as it would be pretty damn stupid to get caught in nothing but t-shirt and shorts in the middle of nowhere but they still had to get their armour on. Her's was too damaged for her to wear and not reopen her leg wound so she was forced to dig out a set of old armour she seemed to keep with her. It was nothing more than strategic plates and reminded him of his own security armour it was light weight and easy to move in as they just had to buckle it on. The breast plate had a white talon on it making him wonder if she had had a few surprise run in's. She was trying to get the buckles to close but it was hard when you needed to hold the plates in place  
Without her asking he came over and stood behind her and silently helped her by holding the armour in place freeing a hand to buckle it up. Once it was done he silently slipping his arms round her waist giving her a strong hug. Gods his arms felt good round her, She hadn't felt safe from the moment she woke that night in the vault nearly six months ago, but standing there with his unwavering arms round her... The trail for her father had hit a wall and she just wanted to sink into those arms and feel safe like she did last night. He lent in and rested his lips on the soft skin behind her ear and kissed her just a brief touch of his warm lips on her skin  
"Thanks" She whispered fighting the urge to take his hands and just melt  
"I understand" He said softly. "You don't need to push me away. but... Thanks for last night"  
“Thanks yourself.” She said biting her lip “I really shouldn't be being such a bitch. I did jump you”  
He laughed a soft chuckle in his throat before moving away to get his own armour on. It was much easier since he never truly undid his completely. With a few buckles kept closed it was easier to slip on and off. Not that he usually took it off he had even slept in the damn stuff when the day had been a long one  
"We have to just keep moving towards megaton and then back along the river. You'll be back in Rivet city for sun down" she said softly  
"You not coming into the city?" He asked without turning round his tone light and conversational  
“No... I didn't really get anything worth selling. Just ammo and ready caps. I have plans to check out one of the other vaults.... for my dad"  
"You know he went in a vault huh?" He said nodding  
"Yeah. I have been thought a couple of them but there's still two I haven't been through" She said  
By the time he turned round she was fully dressed with her rifle slung over her shoulder. With her traders cap tucking her hair out the way, she was breath taking even with the dust, her big green eyes watching him; her long lashes fluttering  
"Better, but I prefer the dress" he said with a smile it was a just a gentle curl touching the corner of his lips  
"I ain't never changing who I am, because I like who I am" she sniffed taking a moment to bend the lip of the cap and adjust the goggles to sit comfortably  
"It's good that someone does." He said teasing her "But yeah... You're all right"  
She didn't reply just simply smiled. She grabbed the bag and slung it over her shoulder it was a good design, when it was near empty it seemed to be nothing but a backpack but adjustable straps could bring it out until it was big enough for the two of the to carry between them with a shoulder strap each. Perfect for someone like her, thankfully it wasn't too heavy as she strapped it tightly to her back. For a moment she watched the man as he idly played with his rifle and checked it over before slinging onto his back and turning to her  
“Ready?”  
Lou nodded and looked round the area as she raised her eyebrow it seemed to him that she wasn't looking at the world but something else.  
The implants that came from the pip-boy told her that it was north-east and that there was no signs of life in the vicinity. The two of them started off back towards megaton in silence. It was going to be a long days travelling

It seemed it was more than a days travelling as they finally walked into the gates of Megaton in the dead of night. The wasteland had other plans as they had run into creatures and critters followed by worryingly a search party of Super mutants. Then the raiders spotted them and they spent a good hour crouched behind a concrete block picking off raiders who were crouched in some buildings. Quickly followed by a run in with the talon mercenaries, they defiantly had a particular hated for Louie and the moment they saw her they went on the aggressive. It was a long day and both were filthy by the time they got to the city  
“Howdy, partner.... Welcome. to. Megaton!” The robot called on a continuous loop  
“You ever been here?” She asked through a yawn  
“No” he managed as they hauled the bag between them. After each fight the women had insisted on going through every item to the point of frustration for him. This was more than making money to survive this was pure greed plain and simple  
The door swung easily open after she called to the gate guard perched on top of the gates and Harkness took in the town of Megaton. It was nothing more than a group of buildings huddled round a rather large crater but there were lights and people chatting and he could even smell roasting meat from somewhere and the ever present gentle chatter of the radio  
“Lets get this stuff stowed” She said giving him a gentle kick on the leg.  
It seemed to be her main form of getting his attention and he had to admit anyone else and it would get annoying but she managed to pull it off with her certain charm  
Both their sets of armour were scuffed up and she was sporting a rather nice graze along her neck where she had a damn near close call with ricochet from a snipers bullet  
“Then we eat?” He asked with a sigh  
“It's up to you... we can sleep for an entire four hours and get up at dawn in time for you to get back for morning shift. Or we're only an hours run from Rivet. Dump everything and head straight back out or you can go and I can get some sleep”  
Harkness thought through these options. Rightly he shouldn't force her to come with him if she wasn't planning on coming into the city and it was less of a temptation if he was to just head back out.... but was it worth the risk? he was dog tired and he needed sleep before he just collapsed  
“Do you have room for both to sleep” He asked with a frown it occurred to him he didn't know where she lived  
For a moment she smiled a very quizzical smile and adjusted the bag  
“Come on... we'll eat and sleep” She said  
The house was pretty damn impressive. Better than a navy cot bunk and a footlocker in the barracks. He was one of the lucky ones in the fact he was the first to relieve the night shift so he always got a quiet breakfast and some time to get ready but there was no real privacy. It didn't bother him... or at least it didn't till he saw that this women had a two room house! She had collected a few things to decorate with. From somewhere she had managed to get some storage lockers, a coffee table and chairs and a workbench  
“The shop had a bunch of stuff. I suspect they were the old owners and they had taken them out making me buy them back. But at least with the music on it's welcoming to come home to.” she said with a shrug as they dropped the bag in front of the nearest locker. In the kitchen was a couple of bowls with the remains of a stake and water in it and an old blanket being used as a dog bed... he hoped that wasn't his room. There were two glasses and a mug sitting beside the chair's all clean and even with dust on them and an ashtray by some old comics  
"You smoke?" He asked with a frown  
"No... But I kind of like having them out... looks like I'm expecting company or just had it. Guess I'm still not used to living alone"  
“You got a dog?” He asked looking round and stopping in front of the dog bed  
“No, That's your bed" For a moment he looked up surprised. She gave him a grin and opened the bag engrossed in her loot "..... Moira must have him” She mused as she started stuffing things into various lockers. "If I am away for too long she picks him up and looks after him"  
There seemed to be a system so he choose to collapse on one of the chairs instead of interfering and she seemed to not want too much help anyway  
“So which one's mine?” He asked with a smile  
“Upstairs. First door.... well only room with a door” She called “Feel free to grab some food and water... But I would mind the robot he's a bit of an ass”  
Harkness watched her for a little longer before standing  
“You need a hand with the armour” He asked from behind her  
She stopped trying to stack the items and turned round to look at him from under the rim of her hat  
“Maybe you can teach me to do it so I can do it myself?” She asked softly  
He silently nodded and ran his hand up her side to the releases under her arm.  
“If you undo this one but not the other you can slip this bit over your head.” He flipped the clasp and the plating jumped open “Then this one and the belt”  
He easily pulled the stud holding the shoulder piece in place as she undid the belt. The armour slipped over her head and fell to the floor with a clunk, she was standing in the jumpsuit that was worn under it all as she dropped the last few pieces of armour on the floor  
“That's much easier” She said softly “I take it the thigh pieces just unbuckle the same?”  
He simply nodded and gently reached down his hand moving to her thigh pieces and his head bent down closer to her own. The elastic holding the armour to her was more than willing to pull back as his dexterous fingers pulled the release first the left and then he leant to the right his mouth a breath from hers, she finally broke eye contact and moved her head to the side her long neck fully exposed he took in the scent of her body the faint smell of honeysuckle lingering. She lent back on the locker raising her leg to meet him he grabbed the back of her thigh and stood closer bringing her thigh up  
“So mine is the room with the door?” He whispered  
She nodded as he took the last step he was against her pressing his own body up against hers his arm resting on the locker behind her, He bent his head their foreheads touching  
“It's not... a bed but there's a blanket on the shelves and the sofa in there is more than comfy... if you... take the cushions off the back you can stretch out a little” She said softly her eyes watching his lips he felt her fingers hook under his belt and run along the fabric  
He gently pushed rocked his hips pushing her up against the locker and her hands grabbed his jaw and his belt with her other as she tilted her hips making him let out a shaking breath, he wasn't going to kiss her, she was the one to dismiss this, she was the one who had to breach the gap  
“Good morning Madam! May I do anything for you or your guest?” The robot declared as it moved down the stairs knocking over a garden gnome as he went before muttering a gently "not that I want to"  
The moment broke and Louie swore at the robot as Harkness lifted his head laughing softly he looked back down with a heart stopping smile  
“No... not right now. We were just going to get some sleep” She declared watching him  
Harkness took it as a sign and nodded. He gently moved her hair behind her ear and ran his thumb down her cheek  
“Goodnight” He said softly  
“Goodnight” She replied  
"See you later" She softly added as he moved to the stairs.  
She hadn't moved just stayed leaning against the locker  
He went to the room and closed the door and for a moment he considered putting the sofa against the door but decided against it as he took a look round, the room was nice and the sofa comfy after he moved a few things around  
“You need your condensers emptied?” her voice came up from the downstairs  
Lou was talking to the robot as if it was a person. This made him smile he just had enough energy to kick off his boots and armour before collapsing on the sofa. She even had bloody questions for the house robot

She couldn't sleep but then it wasn't like that was an irregular thing for her she never felt safe around this world. Never plan to be out in the wasteland and not plan for something to go wrong. Moira had taught her that, every little adventure she had set her on had gotten her hurt in some way or another. She slept for an hour or so before being woken by something. Couldn't get back to sleep so she starting to work fixing the items she had gotten from the people she killed. She couldn't usually fix things without an item to cannibalise but luckily she kept all sorts of broken and near dead items to pull apart. First she replaced the armour plate on her power armour usually she would just cut out the broken bit and weld it back together using anything from a tin can to a broken similar item but with armour it was best not to have seams so she simply replaced it and rewired it. Nothing was wasted in the vault. An item was used to destruction and then the usable parts were taken out and the rest melted down for reuse. It was the same with people. You weren't buried in the vault your usable organs were removed and stored in cryo-freeze and the rest was burnt and the ashes made into crystals that worked in the technology. Your pip-boy was repaired and made ready for the next generation and the only proof you ever lived there were notes on the overseer's computer.  
What was with the overseers of the vaults? she had lived in one with an unstable man and the others she had searched had left her wondering if the prerequisite for overseer was “Must be unstable” no!... start thinking of the vault and she'd find yourself wondering round that doorway wishing you could find a way back in. For goodness sakes last time she started to feel sorry for herself she had hatched a plan to go and live in the reactor core. Trying to find ventilation shafts or anything that would lead back to the vault. She had a better life out here. They didn't want her... the wasteland did, the wasteland needed her  
Idly she played with a few of the guns fixing up the mechanism's making the magazines slide and load better finally she catalogued the food and medicines and while Harkness slept she silently put a few items she stored in the room away checking them off on a clipboard as she counted each item that she put away.  
Lastly she went to get Dogmeat to find him sleeping outside on the sofa by the shop. After Moria nearly gassed him with an experiment the dog refused to go in the shop and would instead sleep by the door. It was a cunning plan because anyone who had a scrap to spare would throw him food and the children would fuss him till they were called away. She didn't need to say anything she simply clicked her fingers and the dog scrabbled off the old sofa to greet her. After some affectionate playtime she took him back to the house. The dog instantly picked up on something different and went up to the spare room. Their guest was sleeping on his front one arm dangling off the front of the sofa and the other off the back, as one leg hung on the arm and the other off the front. There was no sound from him but gentle breathing, she guessed it was a way of monitoring the world around him while he recharged. The dog sniffed every inch of him before deciding he wasn't a threat and taking full advantage of curling up on the discarded sofa cushions  
There was time to get a single hours sleep before all three would be on the road again and moving to rivet city and she still had no idea if she should tell him or not. She just wished the answer came to her on the walk back  
  
A cold nose on your hand can be very unpleasant; a cold nose in your ear is enough to make you leap from your bed. Harkness woke to see a pair of mismatched dog eyes peering at him. He must have said something or groaned as the dog had found him quiet interesting but it seemed when nothing else had happened the dog decided he was going to put fate in his own hand... or paws.  
“What the?” He demanded  
The dog jumped back and stretched before shaking and giving him a little padding dance. Something was a little different in the room but he couldn't figure it out... then it hit him, there were more sugar bombs stacked on the bottom shelf and the Nuka cola quantums' were stacked a little more than before there was even crates with blood bags stacked in the corner.  
The dog got a little bored of him just sitting on the sofa and gave his hand a nudge. Harkness gave in mainly because he needed a drink but because he was never very good with animals but it was making it clear it wanted something. He followed the animal to the kitchen were the dog sniffed his bowl  
“He want's a steak from the fridge” A voice said from a corner  
Harkness spun round to see she was perched on a stool working at her bench in her tank top and trousers  
“He get's steak huh? I would have thought his was the cereal in the other room?”  
There were steaks stacked in a box marked D-M when he opened the lid a chemical smell hit him

“Special steak?” He asked with a frown. He grabbed the meat and plopped one on the plate and topped up his water from a bottle also marked D-M  
“It's laced with Radaway, you can have one if you like but I doubt it tastes too nice, but can't squirt it down his throat and I don't think he would sit down long enough for it to be given to him intravenously” She called without looking up  
She seemed to be fiddling with something, she trying to follow a plan that was pinned on the wall  
“A weapon?” He said softly reading the schematics  
“It's an air powered cannon that fires anything at the target. Perfect for all those can and bottles around the place. Seeing if I can get it to fire explosives” she said idly  
“Did you even sleep?” He asked over her shoulder  
“A little... I don't sleep well out here” She said softly  
“You did the other night” He said with a gentle laugh  
For a moment he watched her smile, gently she pulled her bottom lip in with her tongue and sucked before letting it go the skin looking soft and inviting  
“That was different...” She eventually said softly  
“How?” He said with a frown  
Harkness turned his attention to the little toys on a display stand. It was a little scuffed and dented and he guessed she had pulled it from a ruin and brought it here... maybe the vault-tec headquarters but it looked heavy would she really have managed that?... was that a new one from last night?  
“You made me remember” She said with a shrug “After all that killing and wading through memories of someone else's past only to find we were.... far too late you reminded me that there's a reason we keep going. Reminded me that they were dead and I was truly alive”  
It was the most honest thing he had ever heard her say and for a moment he couldn't help but smile to himself glad he had his back to her  
“How can you be so young but so adult?” He mused  
She got up and laughed just a chuckle in her throat. Because I was never allowed to be a kid past ten. The vault makes you grow up quickly. Most when they get there first assignment its small things sweeping up around the vault, running messages for people. I was given the job of pest control. I had shown talent with a BB gun” She motioned to the battered old gun that sat in one of the open lockers with a little tub of BB's before she carried on she went to the kitchen to bring back some apple snacks and water for them to eat. She got comfy in the chair with her legs hanging over the side and her feet on the table  
“So you were given an adult job?”  
“You might have guessed but I have a mouth that gets me into trouble” She said with a sigh  
“No! Really?” Harkness called his voice thick with sarcasm  
She laughed and gave him a little playful kick  
“Well I have always stood up for my right to say what I want... not always the best idea but I will stand by what I say. Well. The overseer didn't like me teaching this to his daughter... my friend, or that I would get in fights with the bully who always found a reason to have a go at me.... Ladies shouldn't be fighting, ladies should let the men fight for them” she was doing an impression he guessed someone telling her off but without knowing who that person was it just sounded like some pompous ass  
“So they had you killing pests?” he said a little surprised  
She nodded and chewed on some of the snacks  
“Radroaches mainly” she said round some food  
Harkness shook his head and savoured some more of that fresh water. He could get used to being rich if it meant a private room and fresh water  
“What's with the store room huh?” He asked remembering the sugar-bombs  
She rolled her eyes and gave him another gentle kick  
“Why you always asking question?” She teased doing a very poor impression of him “I get more money for them if I take them to other people. Scrap metal for the old fella who runs the waterworks here, sugar-bombs to a ghoul, Nuka cola to that girl in Girdershade and blood-packs... well there for someone else... best not go into that”  
“So it's all to do with the money?” He sighed  
“Pretty much” She nodded  
“It's an ugly trait greed” He said finishing the bottle  
“It's not greed” She said her tone serious enough for him to look over at her  
“What could you possibly need all that money for?” He asked  
For a moment she battled with herself before looking at him  
“Make me a deal” She said softly  
“Alright” He finally said  
“In the next few days I have to do something that... well you ain't gonna like and you aren't going to know why I did it.”  
This made him frown and lean onto the chair arm  
“Swear it isn't immoral” He demanded his eyes serious  
“I swear on my father's life. Where ever the hell he might be. It isn't... Immoral but I don't think it's something you are gonna like me for doing”  
Harkness nodded and watched her  
“If we get through this... and we're still friends, Then I'll tell you”  
He couldn't possibly understand what she would do that would make him hate her. Maybe she was right and they weren't a good match even logically he could see that they would have difficulty together but what would make them drift apart?  
“Deal” He said with a frown  
Dog meat came into the room signifying he was finished and it was time to get moving again. They got ready and after a quick sell up of some of the items; which was particularly uncomfortable for Harkness. Moria the shops owner was constantly watching the new visitor with curious eyes as she dealt with Louie. It seemed Lou noticed this and even his discomfort as she made a point of talking and checking through ever part of the deal as Harkness shifted and sighed behind her. But eventually it was time to get going and for him to go home.

It wasn't till he saw the tower peering through the smog and dust haze did he feel a buzz of excitement he had called that ship his home for so long he had actually missed it and it was nice to think about getting back into his rhythm. It had taken them a day longer but it seemed nothing hugely wrong had happened. Denvers had taken over the day shift and her assistant had taken the night and the world had ticked on. He kind of hated that there hadn't been a huge issue while he was away but he did admit it was great to get back. They took a moment stopping at the doors by the deck as she grabbed his hand and stopped him for a moment, his mind thought there might be a moment between them but he quickly dismissed that as nothing but silliness. It seemed she wasn't lying when she thought about him returning to Chief Harkness when back in the city and the doors were the threshold. The doors were where she would see him as just Chief again. She grabbed three of the newly refurbished weapons and a full ammo crate and put them in front of him there was nearly a thousand caps she was just handing over in guns and ammo  
“That's more than twenty percent” He said sharply he felt a little insulted by the gesture like she was 'leaving the money on the bed side table'  
“Then count the rest as a donation to the Rivet city guard for your great service of keeping the people of this place safe” She said giving him a mock bow  
He sighed and grabbed the items  
“Won't give you a chance to change your mind. I'm taking them..." He looked a her for a moment before softly adding "You staying?"  
“For now. I need to talk to a few people and might even try this sleeping thing people keep going on about... but I might just be on deck tonight” She said with a shrug very aware the bridge guard was watching them from round the corner  
He didn't say anything just nodded and headed into the door and down the stairs to the Market. She followed and headed straight for flak and shrapnel's. She dropped the collection of guns onto the floor at their feet and let them start looking through the items as she listened to the guard greeting their long lost Chief  
“Those for us huh?” One declared  
“Yeah, least when I go out I bring some goods stuff back. Run the ammo and the guns to the armoury. I can take over here...”  
“Well I don't have enough caps to take them all but I'm sure you'll take stimpacks and ammo?” Flak called  
She could feel eyes on her, Lou looked up and her eyes met his. It seemed he was just shamelessly watching her as she nodded  
“As always”

All trading done. Cindy and Dr Preston were restocks so was Gary. Bannon even had a few unique items to put on his mannequins and with a run down to the muddy rudder for the booze and food to Vera for the use of her usual room she had finished trading. She went into her room and got another hour or so nap before looking through the arrangements of clothes she had kept in there. First she needed to get clean, she took the time to shower before looking at the clothes that were in the room she narrowed it down to a couple of items before she picked up her green dress and slipped that on. No way she could get help from Vera without everyone on the ship knowing why she was getting dressed up so she grit her teeth and simply put on the dress and shoes, running fingers through her hair she let it hang naturally and finally tried to get her make up done she got so far as lips but no matter what she couldn't get the make up to work so she left it with black gently ringing her eyes and a smear of brown along her lids. Time to eat and then go meet him. What she didn't expect was for him to be in the damn hotel reception having his dinner.  
Suddenly her plans were sent sideways as she came to sit at the table. For a moment they didn't talk, didn't even look at each other as he ate his noodles and she ordered some Salisbury steak  
“Where's the mutt?” He asked finally looking at her his eyes ran down her clothes and back up and he offered her a breathtaking smile, she had seen him a matter of hours ago but his eyes on her made her cheeks warm ever so slightly and that smile!  
“Around with Brian somewhere got some sleep so he offered to take him for a while.” She said softly  
This was stupid just because her plans got derailed didn't mean she could ignore him till they were outside  
“I take it the city didn't burn with you gone?” She asked trying to sound unfazed  
“No... But the team had a bet I would get captured by super mutants... Or that you would shoot me”  
The two laughed nervously  
“Well did you get the money for coming back in one piece?”  
“It was for a bottle of scotch... And yeah I got it”  
She laughed softly and nodded  
“Can get a good price for that at megaton.”  
“I'll remember that... if I go back”  
“Oh by now they'll be rumours all about the mystery man who stayed with me” She sighed relaxing a little  
“See you are looking better” Vera said as she came to sit at the table with the two of them  
“Yeah... managed to get half the wasteland off me” She said her eyes watching Harkness  
“Don't know how you stand that much dirt” He said his eyes moving to hold hers “I had it everywhere. Took me a good hour to get clean didn't think I would ever get it off me, Had grit in places I didn't know I could get grit”  
Idea's of him in the shower made her blush before flashes of him looking down at her in the caravan as she knelt between his legs made her almost go bright red, he laughed softly making her laugh at her own shyness  
“I see you two are getting along.... And just think when he first met you he thought you were a trouble maker said "No one is that nice without wanting something or everything off you" Seems someone has changed his mind... You look warm Lou” Vera said with a smile offering Harkness a gentle pat on the shoulder  
“Yes, a little hot... so I guess miracles do happen” Lou said softly her eyes watching him meaningfully “I mean, I thought he was an up tight ass who couldn't brake a rule if he tried”  
"The difference is you never disappointed me" He said softly teasing her "I still think you're a troublemaker. Even more now I know you"  
Others started to come in for their dinner and soon Lou found herself chatting to Diego about the church and the desperate need for some new benches. And Harkness was called over to talk Brian who was eager to tell him what happened while he was away. Soon she lost track of him in the room as she talked with Diego  
“Well it would simply be a matter of the wood or metal being found for us and if you come across them maybe some bibles would be good.... Oh, I think someone want's your attention also” The young man said with a smile  
A strong hand lay on her shoulder his fingertips twisting round her hair  
“Time for me to take a walk on the deck” He said softly  
She nodded and turned back to Diego  
“I'll see what I can do. I sometimes come across churches but paper is fragile” She said saying her goodbyes to the room. She followed him but took a different route meaning she didn't catch up with him. There was no need she knew where he would be and she still needed to figure out what she was going to do... what to tell him. She knew she had to tell him, she couldn't leave him unaware with a risk so close but how do you convince someone they're not even human? Up in to the stairwell and then up to the bridge tower through the communal area and out onto deck. She stepped out into the darkness the chill running against her skin as she walked round to look at the city ruins she smiled to Ted as he gave her a nod and headed into the open door behind her and they were alone. There he stood watching the buildings their silhouettes black as they stood up into the sky  
“I forget how savage the word is out there sometimes. Everyone is so god damn trigger happy”  
“Not everyone but yeah, it is... but it can be beautiful too” She said softly as she came to stand next to him.  
He was fully back to being the chief of security and there was a hardness she didn't see in the wastelands a confidence as he stood on familiar ground. He turned to her and for a moment they were both unsure why they had met up  
“You still think it's best to keep away?” He asked softly  
“I do” She was feeling more than a little out of place. She didn't know what to do with her hands or how to stand and it seemed to be amusing him if the glint in his eyes were anything to go by.  
“So why come here?” He asked with a soft frown  
“I wanted to tell you something” She sighed  
“Then tell me” his tone was low as he watched her  
She moved to wrap a hand round his waist and pull him into a hug he resting his head on her shoulder and kissed her neck nothing more than a soft gently touch she turned her head softly and kissed his cheek before resting her lips by his ear. She took in the smell of his soap and shaving cream the warm feel of his skin and tried to memorize it all down to the feel of this stubble on her cheek  
“Activate A3-21 Recall code... Violet”


	5. Chapter 5

_"Three Dog! That's me, kids. Comin' to you taped from my fortified bunker in the middle of the D.C. hell-hole. Ain't life grand? Got lots of stuff goin' down in Post Apocalyptia these days. Here some of the latest news. Listen kiddos, never forget the importance of periodic weapon maintenance. Rifle, pistol, police baton, I don't care which. If your weapon is falling apart, the only wasteland asshole it's gonna kill is you. So be smart. Salvage those parts and make repairs whenever you can. Thanks for listening, children! This is Three Dog, And you're listening to Galaxy News Radio! We're Radio Free Wasteland! And we're here... for you."_

The reaction was instantaneous it was like she had electrocuted him, one second he was holding her in his arms the next he pushed her away and staggered back nearly hitting the fence and going over as she went into the rusted wall one hand held his head as the other purely reacted and grabbed the railing  
The images mixed, the world he knew to be his own and the memories of someone else in his head suddenly both were his. Two different time lines, two different minds mixed into one. Blinding pain flashed into his mind he tried to cover his eyes tried to make sense of what he knew and what he thought he knew.  
“What the hell did you just do to me?” He demanded recovering enough to get control of his legs  
“You're the android... you're the one Zimmer is looking for”  
He wanted to argue, wanted to tell her it was lies but he knew it wasn't, he knew she was right he remembered everything till the moment Pinkerton shut him down with his modified EM Pulse  
“I remember everything. The commonwealth, Zimmer.... Self awareness is not a malfunction.... why did you do this? How?”  
Something went through his head and he frowned her obsession with money her constant chase for riches  
“Did he pay you to do this? Did he pay you to make me remember?” He demanded  
“At first he asked me to...”  
He held up a hand  
“So all this was for money.... and what? you thought you would take advantage of knowing who I was to get me to help you with that damn building?”  
“No I...”  
It was no good, he was reeling too much for her to try and talk to him. She had hoped he would be able to logically listen, that the reaction wouldn't be so violent. She knew if she had approached him with the truth even with the evidence then he wouldn't have listened. Why would anyone just believe that. She had hoped that she could make him remember and then talk to him about it. But he was second guessing everything and he was thinking she was part of the conspiracy  
“And then what?!.... Figured I would be a fun....” He closed his eyes and shook his head unable to finish the words disgusted with even the thought of it  
“No!” She said trying to make him understand her tone almost desperate  
It was no good, She tried to step up and stop him from going down a dark thought process. She took his arm and he went to move her aside but he forgot his strength and she stumbled hard into the side as he stepped in the doorway. She recovered quickly and followed behind him  
“What are you going to do?” she demanded grabbing his arm  
Harkness spun on his heels and glared at her with cold eyes everything about him was threatening the way he moved his head in a predatory manner, he came in to invade her personal space his hands clenching and unclenching into fists till his knuckles went white  
“I'm going shove him in a very small box and send him back north where he belongs” He hissed his voice cold with anger  
She followed him back through the door and up into the armoury. She knew better than to walk into the armoury without clearance the moment she stepping in that door she would be considered a threat by a Mr Gutsy affectionately known as Private Jones guarding the room. She watched him as he grabbed a plasma rifle and brought it back out  
“You can't.... You can't kill him without giving a reason. And what the hell are you gonna tell them?”  
He wasn't listening as he walked passed and for the stairs  
“Harkness!” She tried again sharply.  
Others would pay attention to this clearly agitated man, the way he was acting people would need to know what was going on and he would most likely tell them, she needed to keep him safe even if it was safe from himself... Who ever he really was.  
He spun round again and went to point at her his expression furious. This was the side that truly would throw her off the side of this ship and not even blink  
“Don't you get it? Stay the hell away from me!... I'm not your...” He still couldn't bring himself to say the words they stuck in his throat with bile. “Just because you used me doesn't mean you get to...”  
“Look out!” She shouted  
One minute she grabbed the gun and he went to pull it out of her hands but she didn't pull she went with it pushing in and up. She bought the gun up using his own force against him. The gun slammed into his face and he staggered backwards his foot felt nothing under it, he was forced to let go of the gun as Harkness grabbed for railings, he hung dangerously over the stairwell and felt the solidness of the railings as he tried to hold on, tried to pull himself back up. She brought the rifle-butt slamming down on his fingers and then up again into his cheek, stunned he let go the last thing he saw was the petite little girl in the pretty spring green dress standing at the top of the stairs holding a high powered plasma rifle his back hit a step and his feet went over his head before he slammed into the floor momentum sending him hard into the wall  
  
Louise slipped back out the door to the deck as people came running to see who had fallen down the stairs. She dropped down onto the main deck and into the doorway thank the gods the ship was a warren of doors and corridors that with her pip-boy she could navigate, then to the hotel most had gone to see what the fuss was about which meant it was easy to slip by unseen. She moved to the chosen door and knocked.  
It was Armitage the android that opened the door and now she saw him compared to Harkness she could see the obvious seams to the coverings and his hands and arms. The quiet humming noise of him moving and the fact he didn't blink or breath all give away's  
“Who is it?” Zimmer called  
“It's me” She called walking into the room  
“Ah my young girl.... It's been a while. Don't tell me? My property was hard for even you to track down?” He said with a smug grin  
“I found out who it was” She said softly “But I think you should leave him be”  
Zimmer raised an eyebrow and looked her over  
“You think I should leave him be? Do you know how much that property is worth?” Zimmer demanded  
“I know how much he means to the people who rely on him..... And I think you should just go back to the commonwealth. How much did he cost? I can give you the same amount in barter”  
“So he is a prominent figure in this city huh?... My lady it is not just the price of the item it is the fact that loosing him will put our projects back years” He sighed as if talking to a particularly stupid child "And I really doubt you have enough to be able to buy it"  
“He has already left Zimmer. probably already has a new face” She said trying to keep him from guessing  
“She's lying” The android said beside her  
The old man looked her over his eyes falling on the gun on her back and he started to frown  
“That's his gun!” Zimmer demanded he tried to reach out but she pulled herself out of his reach only to moving into the cold unmoving chest of the android. She looked up into his flat eyes and she felt fear for these two  
“Who is it?” Zimmer demanded  
She bit her lip and turned back to the old man  
“Someone who if you don't leave alone is going to kill you. You need to leave before he kills you” She said softly  
For a moment Zimmer stopped and sighed  
“I suppose he would... The machine was desperate enough to get away from me... maybe we should just live and let live” He sighed  
She looked up surprised that had worked  
“Really? You would leave Hark” She snapped her mouth shut but it was too late. She had let too much go  
“Oh my dear. you really need to work on thinking before you say something" The man called triumphantly  
Lou went to stop them, she went to take Zimmer's arms  
"I'm sure we can come to an agreement. I'm sure I have something you could want for his life?" She asked desperate  
For a moment the old man stopped and looked over at her, his eyes looked from her neck to her bare arms before taking in her legs and body and stopping to looked her over it wasn't smutty or perverse it was like she was nothing but meat  
"Why do you care?" The man asked  
"He is a man... Self determination is not a malfunction. What you're doing is wrong" She said softly  
Zimmer shook his head and looked at her with a angry glare  
"Armitage.... kill her... carve the commonwealth symbol in her flesh and leave her in her room.... we will have the Android come to find us" Zimmer declared  
She didn't think, just reacted as the Android lifted his hand to grab her. She brought round the rifle and pulled the trigger the barrel almost touching him. The android fell to the floor his head sparking. The room was too small for any fighting but she brought round the gun and levelled it at Zimmer before he could grab her, again she didn't hesitate she just pulled the trigger and he slumped to the floor a hole the size of a fist in his chest. She took what she could that wasn't traceable and went back to her own room.  
She pulled off the blood covered dress and washing her hands and face as quickly as possible with a clean bit of the fabric before she shoved it under the bed climbing in the sheets and rolling round to mess them up. Within a minutes there was a knock and Dog meat gave out a single bark enough to make her jump, she had forgotten he was there. She ran her fingers through her hair messing it up before grabbing the rifle and pointed it at the door  
"Mmm?" She called  
“Louie?” Vera called  
She counted to twenty and walked over to the door putting the gun beside the door and opening it shamelessly standing in her underwear it worked the women dropped her gaze hopefully keeping her from noticing anything she had forgotten  
“Sorry to wake you... Just checking everyone's in their rooms” She said softly  
“Umm yeah... was just dozing...”  
“You were out with Harkness this evening weren't you? how long ago did you leave him?” Vera asked her eyes watching the girl  
“While a go I think...What time is it? we walked the deck and then I came back, left him on the deck...” She said with a shrug “Why?”  
“... He had an accident. Fell down the stairs” She said softly  
Louie tried to look stunned and went to walk out the door knowing they would be trying to check the room without anyone seeing and Vera bundled her back into the room and smiled sweetly.  
“Oh no, he will be fine, I'm sure you can find him in the market in the morning. But you really should get some sleep. Well goodnight” She said  
Lou closed the door and went to sit on the bed silently. She heard the commotion as the people tried to get the bodies out of the room without making anyone aware of what was going on  
“All happening tonight... Harkness fell down the stairs in the tower knocked himself out and broke a finger in the process. Now murder over some argument? over what?”  
“Maybe it was the Android he was looking for? Something like that could be very dangerous. I wouldn't feel safe knowing that thing could kill us at any time... Least I know the only passing guest is Lou and she wouldn't hurt a fly” Vera said softly  
"She in her room?" Someone asked  
"Yes. was sleeping" Vera said  
"It's odd... Someone swore they heard her shouting to the Chief when he fell"  
"Well did they say it was her? Did they see her?"  
"No just said it was a young women..."  
"Well she's in there and looked like she's been in bed for at least an hour"  
“Well... maybe we will keep an eye out... for this mystery girl maybe that's the android. would make sense it would take out the chief before going on a killing spree”  
Lou hung her head. She couldn't help but smile at the irony, she ran her fingertips along the rifle taking in ever single inch. It was modified that was for sure the biggest change being the parts that usually broke were reinforced or made of stronger material meaning it could be amped up without risk of it braking under it's own force. The size of the hole in the old man's chest was evidence of that. The realization of what had happened hit her, Maybe it was for the best, maybe it was good that he thought she used him, she bite down on her emotions she had made the decision and had to stick by it. Best to have him hate her now than later when they were attached. She lay the rifle by her bed before laying down her fingertips tracing the rifle's length. It was just a shame she was already feeling the attachment

Harkness woke with a start grabbing the railings of the bed. The world came back to him with such confusion it nearly made him sick. Fear, fight, anger and the sight of Lou shoving him down the stairs her beautiful eyes flat and emotionless and her lips curled up in effort  
“Where is she?” He demanded standing and feeling his balance return  
“Calm down” Vera soothed she was sitting by the door reading something. He was in the doctors office it seemed. He had shut down to repair the damaged caused by the stairs.  
“Lou...Where is she?” He said grabbing his head and rubbing the heel of his palm into his eyes  
“She left this morning... Which is lucky since we had a murder last night and no one knows who it was. We tried to keep it quiet but most people know something has happened. Is the killing of an Android still murder?"  
"What?" He asked with a frown his mind not quiet right  
"I mean.... I guess if you class that as murder then each time you scrapped a robot it would be murder. I mean there nothing more than bolts and cogs with a shiny covering. So I guess it was only Dr Zimmer who was killed and his property broken... But you know I don't like to gossip"  
To much was being pushed at him at once he just watched her with a frown  
"Why are you looking for Lou? I thought you two said everything on the deck last night?”  
The look in her eyes told him she knew there was more to the situation than they were letting on but he knew what she was guessing... no she seemed Jealous. Of what the attention he gave the younger women... or that his attention had stopped being on her? Did she care for him? No, he had never seen any readings from her that would suggest she found him attractive. With his analytical side working again he was able to look her over and see more, much more than before. It was just a shame she knew something wasn't right and he couldn't tell her  
“When?” He demanded  
Vera sighed and stood. She walked over and put her hand on his head  
“I think you need to sit down. Danvers will be here in a minute and she can tell you everything that happened”  
Harkness forced himself to stop. He nodded and gritted his teeth reluctantly sitting down on the bed and watching Vera  
“I'm fine you know” He said softly, he took her hand and gave it a squeeze as he forced himself to stay put and play the human.  
His human mind told him he would be feeling stiff and painful. Hold your ribs a little pretend your neck hurts… The human side might come in handy  
“I'm sure. Dr Preston says you just got knocked out and might have broken your fingers in the fall”  
Harkness remembered the rifle butt on his fingers and shook his head  
“They don't feel broken”  
The human and Android fought up for dominance and he felt the room spin as he clutched his head this was going to take some getting used to  
“Just got a headache” He said trying to cover  
“I'll get the doctor” She sighed  
“No.... I'm fine” He growled  
Vera gently pushed Harkness back onto the bed and he let himself as she ran her fingertips through his hair and smiled  
“Rest and if Dr Preston lets you, you can go up to the bridge tower and get briefed by Danvers”  
Harkness nodded and held his ribs as he smiled softly  
“Your the boss Vera” He said softly  
By night time Harkness was back to his usual timetable, he found himself at the hotel where he fielded questions as he ate alone. Finally he stepped out onto the deck and went to watch the world. This was the time when he could think about what she had done, what this meant for him. Two lifetimes of memories forcing for supremacy. Least he knew that technically he was the same age as her actually a little younger. but he looked and felt thirty five. He decided he was thirty five, it was a much nicer age than eighteen years. He stayed out longer than usual, crossing his arms over his chest and rubbed his eyes and the bridge of his nose  
“You should have stayed.” He said softly "Then again... I should have listened"


	6. Chapter 6

_“People of the Capital Wasteland! It is I, Three Dog, your ruler! Hear me, and, obey! Oh, sorry, that's that, OTHER, radio station. Got lots of stuff goin' down in Post Apocalyptia these days. Here some of the latest news! We all know the dangers of radiation, but with the right precautions, you CAN prevent accidental death or even... eeeewww... ghoulification... Keep your eyes on those Geiger counters, kids. Tick, tick, tickety means run your ass outta there, and then pop some RadAway for good measure. If you do need to head into the heat, be smart. Give yourself a nice boost of Rad-X first. Remember, only you can prevent human flesh fires. Now listen close for this important public service announcement!... Don't feed the You Guai. That is all!"_

When his name was frantically shouted like that it never meant a good thing. He was hanging round the market keeping an eye on the proceedings as always. It had been a month and all had settled down. Zimmer and the android had been disposed of and it was thought the Android had killed him before moving on. One of the regular citizens who hadn't made it back was thought to be the mystery man. Lou had been successful in keeping her and him free of implications and in some ways he was grateful.  
Harkness was about to ask Flak if they had heard anything from Louie when someone came shouting his name through the main door, without thinking he was running up the stairs two at a time till he came to the top and out the door. The sun hit his eyes making him flinch but he fought to hide his eyes from the sudden bright light. It was then that he saw what all the fuss was about, Louie was standing in the middle of the bridge with her weapon drawn... no that was his bloody weapon she still had it! He was about to approach when his analytical side took over there was something very wrong. She was clinging onto the railings as she tried to keep standing but she was quickly failing. She sunk onto one knee but was still keeping everyone at bay with her gun.  
“She won't let anyone but you near her” Denvers said with a sigh  
“You know why?” he asked.  
“She’s radiated” She whispered softly. Set off the Geiger counters when she came near the ramp  
Harkness sighed and curse softly as he turned to the group that had gathered round her  
“Why you?” Denvers asked eyeing him up  
“Because she knows I wont let anyone else risk their lives for her” He said thinking on his feet  
Harkness moved along the bridge as everyone else started to move back out the way. Giving the women room  
“Got pretty messed up” She sighed as her trembling hand finally put the gun down  
“I can see” He said softly  
“Sorry.... Didn't know anyone else I could go to without killing them” She said softly  
“How much?” He asked  
“Near enough 800” She whispered “Damn radiated tunnels. trying to get out from some broken old ruins couldn't come out the way I went in so the only way out was through Mirelurk tunnels and ghouls. spent nearly two days hiking through radiated water. Only to have to fight past some heavy radiation was either go through or go back nearly 17 miles of radiated water.... barely got out of there in time”  
“I don’t know if they can fix that much” He said softly  
“I understand if he can’t.... sorry if I didn't take off the armour” She said her voice braking a little “But I think under the circumstances I might be allowed the expectation”  
She was starting to brake down as he shushed her. Harkness gently picked the her up; she weighed a tonne in the armour and her bag of scavenged things. But he needed to get her into somewhere, somewhere safe for the others of this place, he couldn't turn her away not like this. She wouldn't survive the trip back Megaton. She lay her head on his shoulder her entire body was shaking violently every once in a while a violent twitch would ripple through her and he was forced to hold onto her tightly, her skin looked pale and clammy as she put a hand round his neck  
“Clear the path to a spare room!” He called.  
He had to admit he was incredibly impressed by his own men, they worked as if a ballet one would go ahead and open a door clearing the way followed by a second person who would keep the hall clear as he passed before another would appear further down and do the same. It was perfect and no one else came close to them as Harkness moved her into one of the spare hotel room and put her on the bed. Almost instantly Dr Preston was in the doorway ready to step in when Harkness held a hand up to him  
“Not without suits... she’s too hot”  
“And you?” He asked  
“I've already been exposed... but I have taken my meds. I’ll take a dose of Radaway but no one else comes near her without suit and meds” He commanded  
He removed his armour stepping into a pair of pajama bottoms before coming to stand by the bed, she hadn't moved just simply watched him.  
“I need to...” For a moment he figured this was a good thing as he rolled her onto her side trying to help her up she shook her head and grabbed a crate that was used to put the laundry in and almost instantly she threw up her stomach content into the box and on the floor liquid and food mixed with what looked like blood  
This was bad she was heavily dosed and he couldn't do much for her.  
He started to remove her armour taking it gently off plate by plate and dropping it on the floor then came the soaking clothes underneath no wonder she was getting worst she might has well still be swimming in the river. Finally he lay her on the bed and wrapped her in the blankets but he feared the shaking wasn't from the exposed time in wet clothes  
“It's all going to need to be decontaminating” He said softly  
“You look good” She said softly her breathing laboured as she looked him up and down  
“Was that a compliment?” He asked softly with a raised eyebrow  
"Compliments always sound false. this is the truth" She couldn't help but admire his chest and form, damn she had forgotten how good he looked and smelt and felt but more he looked like he was complete he looked just good. He wasn't a big guy the two of them were almost the same height and he was narrow at the hips but his shoulders were toned and broader than hers and his arms had a pleasing shape.  
He sat down by the bed and gently stroked her hair, her skin was cold and she looked bad  
“You look good too” He lied  
She saw right through it as she gave a huff and pulled the blankets up closer trying to stop the shaking  
“About that night.... I'm sorry” She said softly  
“Don't” He said firmly. “This isn't time for some death bed confessions”  
“I couldn't let them think it was you.... they would have wanted to know what he had done.... why you had done it. Least now they think it was the android” she whispered “I didn't want to killing him... I was trying to get him to leave”  
“I think we need to start you right now on dosing... both of you” Preston called as he stepped in in his radiation suit “Wow... She looks like crap”  
“Give me the Radaway... I'll get them set up” sighed Harkness  
“Probably best... these suits aren't too good for delicate things”  
Harkness leant down and moved her arm she didn't do anything simply lay there and let him manipulate her arm. He held her hand in his as he quickly inserted the needle into her skin and opened the release letting the fluid run into her veins as he hung it up on the wall. Sitting by her bed and with some help from Preston got one in himself. It was totally for show... there was no point the radiation didn't affect him at all but he had to take his medicine had to make it look like he needed it. Her hand moved to take his and gave her's a small squeeze  
“You stay there and take your dose and we'll see how good you are after that” Preston's eyes glanced at the hands locked together and then up at Harkness who simply silently challenged him to mention it. With that the doctor left making no pretence that he wanted to stay close to the heavily irradiated women.  
She waited till he left and for a moment there was the unspoken truth. They were in here for a good few hours together  
“You shouldn't have just left” He said softly  
“Didn't think you would be happy to see me”  
“Well... I wasn't. If you had stayed I probably would of got'cha back for the hit” He said giving her a smile  
She smiled softly back and ran her fingers along his hand  
“So what do I call you? I'm guessing your staying with Harkness?”  
They talked for hours as the medicine was pumped into her veins and he spent the time sitting next to her. She told him about the vault, and growing up. The betrayal she felt at her father leaving and the vault turning on her, the difficulty of adjusting to the world the fact that before she had learned how hard the life was a few people managed to take advantage and get money and supplies off of her and how she had had toughened up quick and managed to build a life around her but she still didn't tell him what she was doing with the caps and for now he didn't push it.  
He told her of the the life chasing down the runners and his realization that they weren't malfunctioning but that in their pursuit of perfection they had made the Androids independent and self-aware, he couldn't take it. He needed to get away from them. He needed to live away from slavery  
“Didn't you think it was odd that your memories were from before the war?” she asked  
The radaway had worked to stop her from vomiting and she was able to sit up but she was still weak and her tone pale  
“I guess I didn't think it through that much... I was always told memories weren't that reliable and I figured I remembered it in rose coloured glasses”  
Louie nodded  
“Did you ever try to find her?”  
Harkness looked over at the wall and shook her head.  
“I wasn't... he wasn't the best husband. He drank a lot and had nightmares. At first he would wake and just shout at her telling her to run for cover or get out the way of the guns.... then on night when she tried to help him.... he stuck out at her broke her cheekbone”  
The hand squeezed in his. It was strong, unwavering as he laced his fingers through hers  
“I figured if I had done that then she was better off without me”  
He looked over and she was starting to sleep.  
“It wasn't you, you didn't hurt her... and even the Harkness that isn't you didn't mean to. It's a syndrome soldiers get. Post, traumatic....” Her hand went limp in his but when she went to unlace his fingers she gripped tightly as she could. It seemed she wasn't letting him go that easily.  
  
Louise woke up with a frown. She felt.... delicate but better her head was thumping and her hand was very bruised she guessed they had put more than one dose through her, her stomach was churning as she gently walked over to the door feeling her legs weak  
“Hello?” She called opening the door  
For a moment no one was around the ship seemed abandoned and she felt fear rise in her stomach.... no it wasn't fear. She staggered to the toilets and emptied her stomach again nothing but bile and liquid... how long had she been out? She knelt in the stall and held onto the wall turning on her pip-boy. She had been out for three days  
“Your up? Wow, we thought you would be dead” Denvers called from behind her  
“I guess I'm full of surprises” She called  
“Is Harkness alright?” She asked resting her head on the cold stall wall  
“He's gone” Denver said flatly  
For a moment she had to let the thought sink in.  
“Where?” She asked softly  
“I don't know... till he gets back I'm in charge so I want you to get checked to see your not radioactive I doubt we need a ghoul running around this place. I'll get Doctor Preston to check you over”  
She wasn't listening properly she just agreed and staggered back to the room  
“All your things have been decontaminated but I don't think you'll be selling anything here” She said as she walked with her  
“Your probably right” She managed  
Denvers headed off and Lou was left to find the doctor as she grabbed some water. She checked it with her pip-boy to find it clear, she drank deeply and lay back down on the bed she wanted to sleep for a week she felt so worn down. It looked like a long run back to megaton but as least she was alive and able to do it... No, not back to megaton, not yet  
  
“Pinkerton!” She called thought the hatch.  
“No one's here! Go away!” He called back  
Lou rolled her eyes and walked into the lab and came to sit on the stairs as he moved from computer to computer  
“You look like shit” He said without looking round. “I know I said I could trim that nose for you but I doubt it would do anything for your current state”  
“You had any other visitors lately?” she asked ignoring the overly offensive man  
The old man stopped for a second before carrying on  
“No. I hope you didn't unlock that door so anyone can get through”  
“No.... I managed to lock it from the outside so only I'm coming through there” She lied  
“Well that's a complete lie.” Pinkerton snapped  
“How do you know. I doubt you've left in months!” She declared  
“Seriously you look like shit, what happened?”  
He was trying to change the subject  
“I'm fine. Harkness has gone missing. Did he come to see you?”  
“Your like a bitch with a bone!” The old man snapped and then stopped.  
For a moment he watched her carefully and then smiled a cold smile with a raised eyebrow as he smile turned into a cold sneer  
“I guess I've never thought it could be used like that” He teased  
“Shut it” She warned  
“Hey, who am I to judge..... Does he come with a Vibrate mode?”  
She growled and pulled out her plasma rifle and pointed it at the old man  
“I will shoot you and leave your corpse to rot old man!”  
She had come to see this man a few times and it seemed the best way to get him to talk always seemed to be to wave a gun around  
“Alright, alright! Yeah the synth-man came to see me. But then I knew you wouldn't have let this go. Figured he would be coming round at some point”  
“What did he say?” Lou demanded she had had enough  
“He wanted to know about the memory chip that was used. I told him it wasn't anything that I knew about. It was just a chip from a vault”  
She stood and dropped the rifle to look at him  
“Which vault?”


	7. Chapter 7

_“Men and ladies, boys and girls, prepare to be astounded, bedazzled, and otherwise stupefied! I am Three Dog, your master of ceremonies! News time, children! Grab your hankies, children, cause I've got a heart-warming tale to tell. It's about a little girl's search for her… for her daddy. Waaaahh! You see, the kid from Vault 101 has been looking for her dad, a very nice man named James, who left his daughter behind in the Vault when he took off. What kind of dad leaves his kid in an underground bunker? Children, I just don't know. It ain't for Three Dog to judge, and you shouldn't either. But none of that matters now! Father and daughter were spotted walkin' and talkin' together out there in the Wastes. Here's hoping they can hold onto each other this time around!... Until next time, this is Three Dog, OWWWWWWWWW! And you're listening to Galaxy News Radio! Bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts. And now, some music.”_  
  
Louie moved quietly through the garage door and took in the room. It was dark and silent with only a few left over remnants of the old world scattered round the edge. There were a couple of mole-rats sniffing and scratching round but they didn't pay attention to her it seemed with the severely watered down version of Moria’s repellent dabbed on her armour and skin they didn't consider her anything to pay attention to and thank goodness it had the same affect on the Yao guai they had a damn nasty bite and deadly claws  
“Creepy” She sighed  
Carefully she moved through the darkened room and watched the shadows flickering there was nothing too dangerous in the little room but there were a few bits and pieces to collect before she turned her attention to a switch board. She gently pushed the green button and the doors moved down to the side  
“Predictable” She declared only to remember she was only talking to the mole-rats. The feeling of being alone struck and it renewed her determination to push on, down a set of stairs and through a broken latched door and then the very familiar round cog shaped door with a large 112 painted on the metalwork it seemed unbroken until she came to the control panel the dust and dirt had been cleared from the buttons. She punched them in and readied her gun, the sirens started overhead and she felt the ground rumble as the machinery started to work. Pressure release hissed and she breathed in the cold slightly chemical air that washed over her face. Did she actually miss that smell to the air... no she liked the fresh clean air of the wasteland even if it always had a slight... tangy feel to it.  
Stepping into the perfectly preserved metal cage she knew so well; walking up the stairs she leant through the railings to close the door behind her. Metal groaned as she swept the entrance room. It was too clean to have been over run or have had some kind of problem.  
The trail for her father had gone cold when no one had known which vault he had gone into. She had abandoned the vault when the last one had left her more than a little shook up. She had gone in without any help and found that this particular brand of crazy overseerer had pumped gas into the rooms. She started to hallucinate and the effects had lasted a good three days, it had made her stop short of the last two vaults till she could find someone to take in with her and do some research but she couldn't find information on either Vault 87 or 112. 87 was way over in the west and the other was 112 the vault she was standing in now  
“Good day. Vauled Vault-tec customer you are two hundred and two years late for registration. If you have not got your vault One, One. Two jumpsuit please take one”  
Louise took the jumpsuit and thanked the faithful robot before heading past leaving it to tell an empty room about the vault. It seemed there was no need to fight in this vault it seemed quiet and tranquil. Maybe this was the home she was looking for? But then... if this place was untouched how come possibly four people have been in and left? How come there was only robots moving round this place? She peered into the main area were the atrium should have been to see pods all hooked up to a central computer.  
“So that's what you wouldn't tell me huh? you old coot” She muttered looking round, her interface scanned the area and a mass came up on the compass at the bottom of her vision. Someone was about. Or was that another robot?  
Carefully she moved through the corridors trying to map out where the person might be. The marker simply told her that there was a person to the north.  
It seemed this vault was a different lay out to the others it was far simpler. Quickly she found what she thought would be the right area the sign above simply said “ADMIN”  
The door was open and from here she could see the figure hunched over the computer. It seemed he had been there for a few days she started to do the calculations in her head  
He was there for at least the first day as Preston wouldn't have allowed him to leave. She was passed out for a further two days then she had walked home to sleep and rest for a further two days. A day selling to a few of the normal lot and to make sure she was strong enough to make the hike and then a day travelling here he could have been here for up to a week. She walked over to the figure and leant over to see had been trying to hack the files on the computers. She managed to get in to a few files he hadn't managed while leaning over him but a lot of the computer was heavily secured. eventually she decided waking him would be best  
Gently she shook his shoulder  
“Harkness?” She said softly  
The result was instantaneous one moment he was a statue resting his head on his hand the next he was up. He had spun round shoving her at the same time mistaking her for a threat in her Enclave armour. She tumbled backwards onto the floor but was ready as he grabbed for her, she brought her legs round into his, one weaving between the legs and second kicked him in the stomach. He fell and she was able to come round using the sheer weight of the power armour to try and pin him. But the armour gave him a good hand hold on her shoulder panels, he threw her up and over his head like a rag doll and she landed heavily on her back. He scrabbled round and knelt by the women; she managed to twist out the way as he brought his hand hard down on the concrete leaving tiny cracks in the floor  
“It's me!” She managed as she brought her own fist up to clock his jaw  
It seemed to do the trick as he blinked and seemed to stop  
“What you doing sneaking up on me!” He spat sitting down and running shaking hands through his hair  
His eyes watched her carefully they looked a little wild he almost looked cornered  
“What you doing here?” She asked softly  
“I needed to know who he was... what happened to him and his wife. He died here. They told him it was a way to fix his problems and he was living in those things till Pinkerton came and ripped him out.... no, he had died years before and they were keeping him on file till he came and took the chip. There's no record of him”  
“I can see if I can find something?” She asked softly trying to calm him down. She came to crouch in front of him resting on her grieves  
“I know she's dead. I know she's gone but.... you said it yourself my memories are two centuries old but maybe she got into another vault... maybe she was here, I had to try and find her”  
Lou gently ran her fingers through his hair before tracing his temples, cheeks and jaw before strongly grasping his chin  
“Why do you need to know?” She asked tilting her head, her tone firm  
“Pinkerton offered to take his memories from me” He said softly “But while he's here he's alive and I can act more human; easier for me to hide, but I still want to make up for his mistakes... My mistakes”  
“You want to make sure that leaving you... him... you both that it was the best choice for her?” She asked softly  
Harkness silently nodded she pulled him into a hug, he rested his forehead on her armour and wrapped his arms round her. It was a childish gesture as the teenage girl soothed (at least outwardly appeared to be) a fully grown adult. She rested her cheek on his head and tried to comfort him. But she couldn't help but feel guilty, she had thought she had done the right thing by making him aware. She guessed it would be better to find out that way than to find out by accident or demand to know answers when everyone who knew the truth was long since unable to answer him. She had intended to take him away from the city and tell him so he could figure out what he wanted to do. She hadn't guessed it would be melt down and run away looking for his ex wife.... a wife that wasn't even his  
“Why are you here?” He suddenly asked  
“I woke up and found you gone and when I went to ask that old bastard in the bow of the ship, he said you had come asking him about the memories. And this is one of the last vaults I haven't checked out for my dad”  
“So you came looking for me huh?” He said teasing her “I mean... I know we had something together but... you're smothering me” He continued as he tried to show a delicate smile  
“I don't know. The way you threw me over the room... and when you tried to cave my head in... that was a cry for attention if I've ever seen one” She laughed  
“Gods I'm sorry” He whispered his hands slipped behind her neck his thumb playing with the small stands of hair and making her shiver in her armour  
“Don't be. Maybe I shouldn't have woke you.... just checked those pods”  
He shook his head and rubbed his eyes resting his head back on the wall  
“You did the right thing....”  
“How about I try and find out what I can when I'm in the machine?” She asked  
This made him look at her with alarm  
“You're going in there?”  
  
The two figures stood staring at the sleeping man in the pod. He looked peaceful almost dead. Except for the rapid eye movement flickering under his eyelids  
“He's in there. I need to get him out”  
“So your just gonna drop in. Tell him it's time to go and get back out again?”  
She smiled and nodded making Harkness look highly unimpressed as he crossed his arms on his chest  
“I need to do this. I need to get to him”  
“Don't need to tell me” Sighed Harkness as he watched the older man. His eyes moved to her and he frowned “New armour?”  
She gave a dramatic sigh and rolled her eyes  
“You never notice when I dress up.”  
The armour was just as bulky but it had metal attachments and two glowing plasma tubes fitting into the back plate it was a charged armour  
“Works with your rifle better.”  
There was a little connector in the shoulder where the rifle butt sat he guessed when the gun was brought to the shoulder the plates connected and it gave it boost to the already high powered rifle  
“Maybe I should get that off you.... Might be too powerful for a girl”  
She turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow  
“You can try” She scoffed  
“Yeah... I'll just wait till this thing kills you and then I'll take it back. And that nice house of yours... would be nice to be rich for once”  
She sighed and started to pull off the armour pieces by piece it seemed still not used to the idea of trying to get it easily off  
“Play your cards right and stick with me and I'll have you drinking nothing but the finest pure water” She called as she shrugged out the suit and slipped on the jumpsuit, she didn't seem to be shy about changing in front of him and he tried to keep his eyes on her face with his best blank stare  
“You should let me go in” He said softly as he watched her look round the pod for an opening catch or release  
“Sounds like a plan. Just plug your Pip-boy in the computer or your spinal access port and I'll key you in” She said her tone annoyingly upbeat  
For a second she turned to him, she mirrored his posture his arms crossed and his head tilted  
“Fine!... just be careful”he eventually said  
“It's a simulation... what could go wrong!”  
“You could die” He said raising his eyebrow “How do you think I.... He died. That's a sentence I never through I would say”  
This made the colour drain from her a little as she eyed up the pod but it didn't nothing but make her more determined  
“You really need to figure out if your Harkness or A3-21” She said giving the pod a strategic thump, the canopy opened and she pulled herself up  
“I guess that's why I came here. Maybe It's best just to be Harkness”  
She sat in the pod and handed him her hat and watched him for a moment she smiled and he pulled the hat on his head giving her a smile  
“Well how about while you figure it out you stay away from Rivet City.... They think the android killed Zimmer. If your not careful the commonwealth might send someone else to investigate..... but for the Record? I like Harkness”  
“What? So now I'm homeless?” He sighed  
“No... you can stay with me” She said with a shrug  
“That a good idea?” He asked frowning a little there was no time to be coy about this conversation mainly because he doubted she would wait for him to find the right words  
“Figure it out when I'm in here. The door is always open... literally the damn robot keeps opening it... and moving my stuff. If you want to just go or wait till I get out and we'll talk some more”  
Reluctantly he nodded and walked over to the computer it turned on and he typed something in  
“See you soon?” He said softly  
The pod hissed as it closed a screen came down as her eyes fluttered closed and she lay perfectly still  
  
The minutes ticked by, then the hours then two days. Harkness slept and carried on trying to hack into the computers reading what she had opened for him. But it seemed the terminal had no camaraderie with him. He was never someone who was good with computers and he just kept moving round in circles coming up against passworded screens. He soon gave up and contemplated leaving. But he couldn't, he needed to see if she was going to get out of this one.... it was impressive how she would rush headlong into things. Impressive and slightly scary, he would go to vault tec head quarters.... after she came out of this  
One of the computer started to beep  
Harkness opened his eyes as the central computer started to beep and then another and another. Soon everyone of the computers were beeping. He got to his feet and activated a random beeping screen to see the occupant was flat lining. He moved to the next and the next everyone of them was dead. He was the other side when the two pods opened. He heard light feet hitting the floor and then another heavier set  
“That was a huge risk!” A fatherly male voice called  
“Me risking my life! You've been in there for months!... anyway why do you care? You left me in that vault!”  
“It was the best option for you! I didn't want you risking your life out here”  
“Well congratulations father of the century!”  
“Don't use that tone with me young lady!”  
“They threw me out. I had to go or that psycho would have killed me. I had to threaten to hurt my oldest friend just to get out of there.... you really think that was the best place for me. A deathclaw infested slave pit would have been safer!”  
There was silence as Harkness came round to see the two of them standing together  
“I knew he was... odd. But to try and hurt you....” He said softly  
“I have only known you in my life dad.... you can't just leave me like that” She said softly  
The man nodded and brought her into a hug. She hugged him tightly and he genuinely looked surprise at how she had changed. His eyes opened and Harkness could see they had the same soulful green eyes as they turned to land on him  
“We're not alone” he said softly  
“That's Harkness” She sniffed rubbing her eyes without looking round  
“Who?”  
Harkness silently waved his hand not sure if he should get involved or not  
“He's my.... companion, I hired him”  
She gave him a meaningful stare and Harkness nodded  
“I've been trying to keep her safe” He said holding out his hand  
“Well thank you for that. I'm James LeSanto Louie's father”  
The two shook hands as he turned back to his daughter  
“We need to go to Rivet City and tell Li what we found”  
Louie stopped a frown clear on her face before shaking her head firmly  
“You have been in that pod for months you need to recuperate. You need to get your strength back”  
“Oh no Lou. I'm closer than I have ever been. I now know I need a G.E.C.K”  
“No” She said firmly “I have just got you back!”  
“I'm not going anywhere... but we can't stay here. Were is safer than Rivet city”  
Harkness winched a little and Lou sighed softly  
“Harkness can go as far as Megaton with us then we'll go” She said softly her tone defeated  
For a moment James looked at the two of them and nodded carefully  
“Sounds fair. I'll let you collect your things and I'll meet you in the entrance” James said softly  
Lou nodded and gave her father a kiss on the cheek. He left and for a moment Lou stood with her back to Harkness her eyes watching where James had gone through  
“Come on then.... which part do you want to have a go about?” She said with a sigh  
“How do you know I have any problem? Alright so you let a man who you have spent months looking for run off. Not to mention the pods of dead people, maybe the fact that I know that “Get your things” Means you'll leave this place with nothing more than a drinking glass left on the shelf for you to sell for your fifty foot statue outside the GNR building... or maybe the fact I have been demoted... or is that promoted to your employee from your sex toy?”  
Lou let out a growl and spun round to face him; her eyes angry, it was her time to point at him till her finger was pressing into his chest plate  
“How about I work through those in order?”  
“one! There is no way of arguing with him about this, where do you think I get it from? As long as I follow him to Rivet City I know he will be safe. Two... That man was torturing those people. Two hundred years of torture from that twisted bastard and I couldn't leave them in there. And I couldn't get them out, He wanted me to kill them, he wanted me to torture them so I ended the program and killed them quickly. There out of their pain and misery and that twisted old man can't do anything to anyone else...Three... yeah, I'm going to raid this place of every last item and then I'm going to take the clean medical equipment and working batteries and conductors to the people who need and can use them.... and I told you that I would show you exactly what I need those damn caps for. And I will. And finally what did you want me to tell him? “This is the man who is really an android.... no he's the most advanced you will find to the fact you can't tell the difference. So advanced that I forgot he was and in a moment of weakness after spending a day fighting off flesh hungry monsters I let my attraction to him get the better of me and I sought out comfort in the arm of him..... yeah this is the last guy who did your daughter, no were not in a relationship, that's where it gets a little complicated you see despite the fact that I threw him down the stairs so he wasn't implicated in the murder that I committed to keep him safe. We can't seem to get away from each other so now he's living with me...” Better still do you want to do it? you can tell him that before we leave!”  
The room rang with her final silence as she stood with her arms crossed glaring at him. For a heartbeat he simply looked at her  
“Never agreed I would come live with you” He softly almost sulking  
She tried to keep her anger, but her eyes softened and she couldn't help but smile. She tried biting her lip but it didn't work  
“Well? You staying with me or not?” She demanded softly  
“Well I guess I could lower my standards.”  
“If it makes you feel happier you could have a tiny cot installed, put the sofa downstairs and let the dog have it?”  
He took her hand and gave it a squeeze  
“Take your father to Rivet city and I'll meet you back at the house.”  
“How about everything in here?” She said with a frown  
He dramatically rolled his eyes  
“I'll remember to loot everything in this place and leave it for you to go through” He sighed  
The girl nodded and for a moment he could see the scared little girl. The one who just wanted to spent some time being the little girl at her fathers side and he wanted to find a way to set her mind and emotions at rest but before he could say or do something the wall came back up. She pulled on her cap hiding her eyes and took few steps towards the exit  
“See you soon” She said firmly  
“See you soon”

Something that was good about shutting down was you slept heavily he didn't even hear the girl coming in not till his skin sensors felt pressure, he opened his eyes to find her curled up next to him she had rolled him over to let her sleep on the bed  
“You want me to go to the other room?” He asked softly  
She silently shook her head and curled in tighter next to him. He gently stroked her hair as he heard her sniff and then sniff again. She had pulled off the jumpsuit and had pulled the sheets up to hide her face as she just lay there curled up closer into him.  
“He safe?” He tried  
Again she just nodded  
This wasn't going anywhere he simply wrapped his arms round her and let himself shut down again as she slept in his arms.  
When he woke she was gone out the room again and he was suspecting maybe it hadn't actually happened but the dog was gone and so was the sack he had bought back from the vault some of the items had been put out around the room but he guest most had been taken to be sold.  
“To the people who need it” He said doing an impression of her “Yeah for a damn profit” He sighed he went to the fridge and grabbed some food and a bottle of water  
“Good morning sir. Can I do anything for you?” The robot asked  
“No thank you” He said he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy around the robot  
“Was just asking” He muttered as he moved off  
Did he actually hear that?  
The room was silent as he chewed on the food did he actually need to eat or as it just habit? No he needed the food for the basic chemical compounds he figured it was why he would get cravings and his obsession with noodles  
“Does the jukebox work?” He called the robot  
“Yes sir” Again the robot mutters something but he couldn't hear it over the robots burner unit, that kept it afloat as the robot flicked on the jukebox and out came Three dog calling out into the wasteland  
“Because one dog ain't enough. And two dogs is to low, it's me three dog! How you kids handling in post appcolyptia today? Let me ask you something children? Are you hungry for some two hundred year old Salisbury steak? Or are you ready for some news? The boy and girls of the brotherhood of steel continue to fight the good fight folks. they've recently stepped up patrols in the downtown DC ruins in response to increasing sightings of everyone's favourite freaks the super-mutants. Without our boys from the brotherhood I'm guessing the entire capital wasteland would have been over run a long time ago. So if you see a paladin fighting your battles for you give him a big thanks, or even better some Ammo. Until next time, this is three dog! And this is Galaxy news radio and now for some music... this is Miss Billy holiday with.... Crazy”  
The song started and Harkness smiled softly as he folded his arms up behind his head and stretched out in the chair. He closed his eyes and took in the moment the gentle sounds from outside and the constant sound of the robot moving his way round the house once in a while he could hear the robot picking things up and moving them he felt heat on his feet as he opened an eye to see the robot moving one of the garden gnomes from upstairs to just in front of the door as the robot turned he closed his eyes and carried on just taking in the world. He heard the door open and he simply half opened his eyes and watched as she walked in with a half empty bag, she took three steps and then nearly tripped over the gnome making her sneer at the robot and move the gnome behind the hat rack and gently kick a tricycle behind the door, in followed the dog for a moment Louie's eyes fell on Harkness and they watched each other before she ducked her head down keeping the hat low  
He was about to move and stand when she kicked the door closed  
“Sold up?” He asked softly  
“Yeah” She grunted  
“What's up with you? Not get the best deal?” He demanded with a raised eyebrow  
She walked over to the locker and shoved it for a moment he thought this was just annoyance but then the entire bottom of the locker detached and swung open to reveal a safe hidden behind it. The top was working storage but it was attached to the wall like a cupboard the bottom was just for show. She dropped the caps in and he couldn't help but see there were a good four or five bags piled in there  
“Nothing” She replied softly  
“I didn't think you would be back last night. Figured you wouldn't mind me sleeping in the bed”  
“Didn't” She said swinging the locker back into place  
“So what the hell is your problem?” He said standing, his tone firm. He didn't mean to snap but he hated the silent treatment from women and he wasn't about to panda to this one  
“He's ran off back to project purity... he lied to me! He was at rivet city long enough to talk Doctor Li into moving back there, they all went. When I tried to talk them out of it Li just told me it was none of my business as if I was some silly little girl.... There right back in project purity! And all I could do was walk with them”  
“Is it safe?” He asked softly  
“I cleared it out months ago... gone back a couple of times and checked the doors and it was never disturbed. I was hoping he would show up back there but now I know he wasn't going to because he was damn well stuck in some mad man's trap” She was fuming by the time she finished and he wondered if the poor locker was going to get a punch  
“Is he still safe?”  
“For now... till he runs off somewhere else!”  
Harkness gently watched her as he lent on the wall. She gave the locker a punch and a kick... was that why they were dented. She turned to him and took in a lung of air and let it out slowly  
“You think that might happen?” He asked softly  
“It happened before. Why not again... I just wish I could stop him, Just wish he would listen to me”  
“Yeah... It's annoying when someone ignores you and just stubbornly carries on no matter what you tell them isn't it?”  
She was about to snap at him but she didn't have a leg to stand on and they both damn well knew it  
“Fine... come on” She said walking up the stairs  
“Come on what?” He said with a frown  
“We're gonna go kill something”  
Harkness lent on the step at chest height and looked at the garden gnomes... what was with the damn garden gnomes?  
“You do realise I don't actually work for you don't you?” He called  
“Great so you're gonna pay rent? Twenty a week? Or ten and you find your own food and water” She called  
He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest  
“You know I don't have any caps.” He finally said  
“Yeah. but you wanted to get to vault tec.... The building was cleared out but I doubt the route still is so how about you pay for your rent in kind?”  
Harkness smiled and nodded it was hard to fight when she had the upper hand and knew it... sometimes he hated this women  
“Alright... fine! lets go kill stuff”  
“Take what you want from the locker by the door” She called  
He frowned and went over to see if she had a pistol or maybe a rifle in decent condition, after he had given over his guards rifle to the armoury and she didn't seem to be giving him back the plasma rifle any time soon. He opened the first to see shotguns all stacked the next showed rifles... all she could probably sell for a handful of caps each. If anyone had that much. He was starting to suspect this women had the collected wealth of half the world. He grabbed a rifle and some light armour his own in need of repair  
“Why don't you sell them?” He called as he pulled out a small pistol and slipped it into the strap of his armour and testing how solid it was  
“I do... They're for barter” She called as she walked down the stairs in her armour with his rifle slung on her back  
“Hope your keeping that in good condition?” He said with a grin  
“Better than you did.... you know there's not meant to be that much dust in the trigger system”  
The two started out and Dog meat quietly watched. Steak had been put in his bowl.... the sofa was left unguarded and that man was talking to him in the box with lights. Life was good

They approached the quiet area in front of Vault -tec as the two figures moved up into the reception. It was a little different than he thought it would be. He almost thought it would be like the institute a clean and clear building in the middle of rubble and decay but it was like the rest of the world... it was dust and dirt covered. Lou pulled off her helmet and clipped in onto her shoulder plate before slipping on her hat to keep her hair from falling into her eyes. The silence pressed in as they listened for anything  
He turned to survey the world and frowned the fight had been a long slog in places and both were sweaty and dust covered. He was about to risk saying something when a whistle practically burst his ear drums making him duck. He looked over to see Lou standing there with two fingers in her mouth  
“......Why?” He asked softly  
She shrugged and looked about  
“I ain't running after them... let them come here”  
It made sense but it still felt insane that they had just crept through miles of metro tunnels and hugged walls and shot round corners only to have her pretty much send up a flare that they had arrived  
“How do you know it's clear?” He asked  
“I don't... I cleared it up and the tape I left on the door was unbroken but there's always and chance” Harkness wanted to argue as to maybe bursting his ears with a whistle wasn't the best idea but he senses this would be a circular argument as she started to pick her way through the rubble to a door.  
The building was nice and empty as they pushed through up deep into the building to the main frame. For a minute he thought there was going to be trouble but it seemed she had already hacked into a large amount of the mainframe  
“You really want to know about him.... You?” She said softly  
“Me” He said firmly “I'm Harkness.”  
“So do you want to know about you?”  
He took a deep breath and nodded  
She pulled out an attachment she inserted into the pip-boy and then into the computer as she sat down crossed legged for a moment the screen flashed up a second program.  
“You see. A computer records everything you have put into it including passwords. I have the right program but I have to find the right program password which means removing the others. She started writing in passages and slowly one by one she removed the words before finally bringing down the screen and typing in the password  
“H-A-R..... K..... Harkness. J”  
She pulled up his file  
“What does it say”  
“John is a veteran of the war suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He is in sever need of therapy as his condition has made him highly volatile and aggressive. He had been chosen for Vault 112 by the overseer, Dr Braum to see what long term effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the pressures of vault living.... You were going to be Braum's attack dog I guess. Maybe the one to help him torment the others. I guess he thought your military training and conditioning to follow orders paired with your condition made you the perfect man. But I'm guessing you refused to play along one day and he killed you and wiped you from the computer”  
She looked over to see his face was totally blank as he nodded  
“What else?” He asked softly  
“Harkness in our opinion should not be allowed to dwell in vault 112 on the recommendation of his wife.... Maria Averly”  
“Her maiden name... When she left me she took up with her maiden name again”  
She didn't turn round this time just kept reading  
“Maria says John Harkness is a severely disturbed man who is prone to violent outburst when provoked but it was a symptom of a mental illness, with proper care he could become a productive member of society again..... Recommendation, remove all alcoholic substances from easy requisition and keep under constant observation”  
Louise fell silent and watched the screen. She could see him moving about  
“Is that why you don't drink?” She asked softly  
“Yeah”  
It seemed it was his turn to give single answer  
“Well I guess that was why you thought you didn't drink... I doubt it does anything to you”  
“Nope”  
She watched him lean on the side or the huge computers and then slide down to sit on the floor  
“There is no other mention on this database but....” She worked quietly through the computer the only sound was her swift fingers on the keyboard  
“Maria Averly-Harkness” She said softly  
“Go on” He said  
“You want me to read this?”  
“Go on” He just repeated flatly  
“Maria Averly-Harkness. Estranged husband Private John Harkness last known to be living with her parents after separating from her husband on grounds of inconsolable differences. No children, profession Music teacher. No record of remarriage... She didn't survive and bombs”  
The silence fell over them like a blanket as he let the information sink in. She turned off the computer and came to sit by him. For a long time they simply just sat in the ruins. It was him to move first he pulled out a packet of cigarette's and put one to his lips and lit a match breathing in deeply and letting out the smoke  
"Didn't think you smoked?" She asked softly  
"Was trying to quit... theses things can kill ya you know?" He sighed  
Can get good money for them" She said softly  
He laughed softly and took in more smoke and let it out his head fell back and he flicked away the ash  
“I remember it like she walked out yesterday, I can still smell her perfume, but she's been dead for hundreds of years” It had been an hour or so when he finally spoke again  
“At least you know” She said softly “At least now you know for sure. That old bastard could of at least taken you to the vault and made it seem you had been in there the whole time.”  
“What? and go out of his way for a tin can?” Harkness sighed resting his head back  
She watched his profile for a moment and her heart reached out to him. It almost seemed cruel to make them that lifelike. She simply just sat with him the two of them just existing until he dropped the butt on the floor and stepped on it. The cigarette had long burnt out but it seemed to be habitual  
“So... does this mean you are considered not married?” She asked with a frown trying to get her head round this situation and failing  
“I guess it makes me a widower” He said without opening his eyes  
Lou silently nodded and rested her head back he tucked his hand under her arm and round to click on the pip-boy's radio  
Galaxy news Radio come on the familiar sound of Three dogs shouting till the noise echoed thought the ruins. The man died down and the music started softly enveloping them as they sat in the ruins  
“Now what?” She asked softly  
“Don't think I'll go back to Rivet City... too many questions”  
“Why did you leave in the first place”  
_Finally he was given the all clear and he was allowed out._ _Harkness left Louie sleeping as he went_ _to get some dinner. It would be entertaining going in satin_ _sleepwear but they still hadn't finished decontaminating his clothes and he didn't fancy running up to the tower to get changed to double back to the hotel, he made it a few doors down from the quarantine and he could already hear Vera  
_ “ _It's just. I don't want anyone to... look after me, I can look after myself Seagrave. Come along lets talk about something else.... Did you hear anything about this android. No news since that Dr Zimmer got killed. I don't trust it maybe we can partition Harkness to have a mandatory test for all citizens and Visitors. It's the only way we could be safe”  
_ “ _You scared of a robot?” Seagrave said as they got closer  
_ “ _I think they're creepy those Androids, even the thought of one them touching me would make my skin crawl,_ _maybe we can figure it out by who came here and when... who was the last citizen to come here? Maybe Harkness will get the citizen's tested too. If we petition he will have to won't he?_ _”  
_ “ _We will have to be very vigilant._ _Check everyone for unusual behaviour. I've already been keeping tabs on Bannon. Did you know he was sleeping with Li?_ _”  
__This was turning into a witch hunt!_  
Harkness sighed softly and shook his head  
“Just didn't think it was best to stay there” He sighed

It was easy to see how quickly a few days can turn into a week. Harkness had made his way into life in Megaton quickly, since his brake down Louie had simply asked Lucas if he could come to live with her. There was no problem simply saying that while she lived there then he was welcome and he settled down. He spent most of his time patrolling the exterior of the city keeping raiders and such from the main gates and the area outside even picking up a few shifts sitting on the gate watching the world from the top of the walls. It wasn't hard work but it was nice to be outside most of the days and he was enjoying the unanimity. When it was needed he would go out with Louie but she had gone out on her own claiming she was just going out to help her father for a while. It seemed she was trying to spend more time with him and hopefully that was what was happening and so part of his day seemed to be quartermaster as he was almost guaranteed to have a knock on the door as Moira sent someone to ask if Lou had something to sell them. He was told to just take what was offered so he usually ran over whatever it was himself before taking dog meat for a walk round the walls in the evening. He still didn't really know how to handle the dog but he seemed pretty low maintenance  
By the fifth day and not seeing Louie Harkness woke with an uneasy feeling. When she wasn't about he would sleep in the bed and if she came home and wanted to sleep she wasn't too proud to share but it had been a week and no one had seen her.  
“You think it might be a problem huh?” he said as he dropped a steak into the dog bowl  
Dog meat sat down and looked longingly at the food  
“Go on then” He sighed  
As the dog ate Harkness paced the house before walking up the stairs and putting on the radio, the music was just finishing as he got out an iced cola taking a healthy swig before sitting down on the chair. It was hard to think that he used to think this was alien as he sat listening to the radio


	8. Chapter 8

_“Hey Nifty America! It's me, your president, John Henry... Ha ha got ya three dog here. Hows everybody doing? seems we got Ta da Da! Bit of news! Just listen to this... Tin foil hat time children. My eyes and ears have told me that the government have taken over that big machine thingy at the Jefferson memorial._ _You heard it first here my friends, the Enclave are on the scene I've got reports of flying ships and shock troops in high tech power armour and when the man showed up a bunch of scientists went running. With them was Rivet cities own Doctor Madison Li and that crazy kid from vault 101._ _They're safe and sound now at the citadel praise Jesus! Praise Jesus!.... no sign of the kids father. Let's just hope James is OK. Well boys and girls looks like president Eden wasn't completely full of shit.... Me thinks we're all screwed. Thanks for listening children. This is three dog and your listening to Galaxy news radio!....”  
_ Harkness was already gone

His plan was to go to the citadel and find her but when coming out the gates he saw Crow one of the caravan traders. They both waved and Harkness walked over to the trading caravan  
“The spirits told me you would be alright. Rivet city thinks you've vanished”  
Harkness rubbed his neck and looked round  
“Well how about after we've talked the spirits tell you I was never here and I'm still disappeared huh?” He said kicking the dirt “Just wondering if you've seen Lou?”  
The man frowned and tilted his head. He knew they knew each other she had told him about memorising the caravans routes so she could trade while travelling  
“Who?”  
“101?”  
Crow nodded and smiled  
“She was at Paradise falls last time I saw her” He said with a shrug  
“When?”  
“Yesterday... maybe day before. I loose track”  
Harkness nodded and bought some water off the man for twice the price he was asking. It was an easy run from Megaton to Paradise falls. Out to the main road and then north on the ancient roadways past big town and over the bridge, the wasteland was pretty safe in that area after Lou had cleared out the super mutants and raiders. The last threat was the slavers that had hold up in an area making it into a rather good fort. He had to admit the old soldier in him couldn't help but admire the idea. Only one entrance that was blocked off and made into a fortification. You had no way of getting in and of course if you were stupid enough to get in then no one got out either. But something was wrong he had embraced his cybernetic side and had enhanced vision, hearing and smell (The only reason he was given the function to breath was constant monitoring of the air about him for harmful airborne threats). He came to a stop at the top of the hill with Dog meat sitting silently by his feet his eyes scanned the area to find only one living person in the entire fort.  
Was it her?  
“Come on then mutt” He sighed but Dogmeat had already started trotting down the hill wagging his tail. No matter how fine tuned his own senses were he could never beat a dogs. It seemed Dogmeat knew it was safe he trotted over to the figure sitting behind the sandbags. For a moment Harkness hesitated not because he didn't recognise her, but because he was worried what was happening. The area was silent as he approached the only sound were the birds fighting over the feast behind the walls  
“Lou?” He asked softly  
She was sitting on the guards chair with her arm on the wall and her head resting to the side as she watched the little toy that sat in front of her, a Bobblehead that was standing behind a podium, her only movement was the finger she held above it, once in a while she would tap his head and he would chortle along to some private joke  
“Three dog is going on about the Jefferson memorial” He said softly coming to sit on the wall next to her  
“Don't” She said softly without moving, her voice small and hollow  
“Don't what?” He asked  
“What ever it is your going to say... Don't tell me your sorry, don't tell me it's part of the bigger plan. And really.... really don't tell me your here for me because maybe it's best if you weren't” She still didn't move even her tone was flat she just kept tapping the head and letting him wobble  
“I was gonna say I thought you would've picked a better target”  
She finally turned her head to look at him; her expression was flat but her eyes showed that her heart had been ripped from her chest  
“Didn't so much as get a bullet in me.... incompetent assholes” She whispered  
“Where you trying to get one?” Harkness asked softly  
“If I was going to do that then I would have walked out to the.... middle of fucking nowhere and put a bullet to my head. Don't trust anyone else not to fuck it up” she snapped  
“Instead you walk up to heavily armed bunch of ruthless bastards, and what. Just shot anyone that comes near you, hoping you could catch a bullet to the brain while doing something stupid and fool hardy?” He asked his tone sharp, she needed to feel something, she needed to process  
She didn't move but her eyes grew angry before she suddenly she sat back in the chair so hard it nearly went over backwards with her sitting back he could actually see the state of her. Her armour was heavily damaged and blood covered. She stared out into the world unimpressed by what she saw before turning back to Harkness. He went to stroke her hair try to comfort her or just connect but she slapped his hand away with enough force to make him pull it back in reaction to the pain.  
“I'm serious. You should get as far away from me as possible” She snapped  
“Why would I do that?” He asked  
“Because I'm broken! I watch my dad get killed in front of me and my reaction is to slaughter thirty people!” Her voice broke and she went to stand but she had been sitting in the same place for so long her legs were weak, she stumbled and then recovered coming to lean on the sandbag wall next to him before sliding down to sit on the floor. He joined her sitting quietly  
Her eyes looked over to him and he watched back  
“I'm not going anywhere” He said softly  
“I couldn't protect him... can't protect you” She said tears starting to finally well in her eyes.  
"Don't need protecting. Why do you think I like ya Lou? I ain't gotta worry about you and you don't need to worry about me"  
She moved over and sunk her head onto his chest her arms grabbing him by the waist and hugged him tightly. The tears started and she let out long ragged sobs as he enclosed her in his arms stroking her hair quietly leaning down to shush her  
To feel enough pain and anger to walk up to thirty or more men and kill them all. To have so much anger for the world you do this he couldn't understand it even his human side; the side with emotions couldn't understand this much hurt  
“I wasn't even going to bring a gun” She finally admitted “But I knew if I didn't. They would just capture me. So I walked up here with my gun and my armour and that was it. I shot the gate guard right between the eyes. He fell over and I aimed for the second... and just kept... pulling the trigger it was a slaughter”  
She finally managed as she lay with her head in his lap, she had slowly been sinking down his chest till finally she was curled up as tightly as the armour would allow with her head on his forearm and his arms wrapped round her. Dogmeat had come to curl up with them trying to comfort her  
“The next thing I knew there was a group of kids sitting watching me and I'm sitting in there with the plasma rifle in my lap and there's blood.... everywhere. The place is all shot up and my bag is full of armour, guns, food and medicine and I have that toy.... in my hand”  
She looked over at the Bobblehead  
“I'm a fucking psycho” She wept  
“Would it make you feel better if I told you that you weren't?” he said softly  
She shook her head  
“You're a fighter born that way but you are also what this world has made you, most people would have refused to kill the people they have known all there lives. You did the maths you knew you had a better chance of survival out in the wasteland looking for your father than giving in and staying in that vault. You knew you had a better chance of finding him if you helped Three dog and got him his damn dish so without even knowing what the hell you faced you went to that museum and killed the mutants. Through this whole time you have been doing the maths. What was the best course of survival and what is the best way to push yourself but then.... this time the maths didn't work any more, no course would bring you your father back. You were forced into the brotherhood path and I'm guessing they're trying to push you to help them?”  
“I think they have the right idea... but I don't like they're reasoning. But, I think they have what I need to help the world” she said her mind coming back a little, gripping onto logical reasoning  
“This wasn't a suicide attempt this was you just doing the only thing you know to do. This is you hunting the evil and saving the good not because you think it's the right thing to do... but you did the maths. You figured just how much money you could make from a haul this size”  
She laughed nothing more than a quick expulsion of air through the nose but it was something. They started to stand he helped get her on her feet and held her hands as she staggered a little getting feeling back in slightly useless legs. She come to stand in front of him brushing her hair back and pulling the cap down as always when she was upset, pulling it down to hide her eyes she wiped her eyes and face with a scrape of something and sighed trying to get control of her emotions  
“If you were gonna kill yaself you would of brought nothing but a knife and stopped fighting after the first man.” He said softly  
She pulled him roughly in for a hug it took him by surprise, it was rare that the two of them allowed physical contact for too long the two of them even kept away from too much casual contact as it seemed to always lead to frustration on both sides, but even when they did she was never so aggressive about it. His first reaction was to hold up his hands in surprise before slowly wrapping his arm round her again. She kissed his neck. It was barely a touch to begin with the second more of a purposeful action.  
Something shot through him and his mind started to fight for logic over emotion as she kissed his jaw. Her hand was shaking as she ran her fingers along the other side. She lifted her head and he lent in to kiss her, it was gentle and caressing as he tasted the salt of her tears on her lips  
“Your upset. You think you need this, and believe me I want it too.... but do you really want to open that can of worms again?” He asked softly  
He watched the emotion run through her. Hurt, anger, embarrassment all flashed through the micro expressions in her face and eyes  
“Maybe I do.” She said in a pertinent tone  
For a moment she seemed to truly think about what she was doing as she closed her eyes and took a long breath. He had avoided a fight with her and she even seemed to return slightly to normal  
"I guess our friendship is too important" She sighed  
"We're not friends Lou.... At which point since we have known each other have we been platonic?" He asked softly  
Lou thought for a moment wanting to argue even just for the sake of arguing or for the fact he said they weren't friends, but he was right she had never wanted to be his friend  
"Not since the moment I met you" She admitted  
"Good to know" He said softly laughing  
“Maybe we should just get married?” She said resting her head on his shoulder and rubbing her eyes. He knew that tone she was baiting him  
“Where?” He asked softly knowing now that joining in was the only way to stop her making sport of him  
“Just.... I don't care where, I'll even put on a dress and you can wear a suit”  
“Of what?” He joked  
“Just a suit. We'll go away maybe on that boat by the library, go kill some people somewhere else for a change then settle down”  
“Where?” He asked again softly  
“I know exactly where” She sighed  
For a moment he stopped and frowned the tone in her voice had changed, he wasn't sure if she was joking anymore  
“Are you serious?” He asked looking at her starting to get worried this might be a serious proposal  
“About what?” She frowned “The house, the honeymoon or the dress?”  
“About marriage”  
She studied his face and shook her head letting a gentle smile play across her lips  
“I'm just mucking about.”  
She saw the relief come over his face as she stood up straight and pulled her cap back down  
“Since you're here grab some of this will ya” She sighed  
“You cant be thinking of putting all these guns in your house?” He asked with a frown looking down at the pile of items. She gave a snort and shook her head  
“You think those in the house are all I have?” She asked raising an eyebrow  
“You have more?” He asked a little shocked. “You realise your house is on par with Rivet city armoury?... probably better”  
He grabbed one end of the bag and she grabbed the other  
“Then I feel sorry for rivet city” She sighed “Come on, we're going south”

“This is yours?”  
They had stopped in front of the old Army Depot. The two robots outside were strolling a locked area as she nodded and dropped her end of the bag to unlock the gate  
“Well.... it's more like no one else was using it”  
“No... because it's ready to fall in on itself” He sighed  
The guard had thought about coming here to clear out the armoury but scouts told them that the place was close to collapsing and that the door was barred and locked elsewhere other than by the door and no one could find the connection  
“Well... it looked that way but it's pretty safe” She said relocking the gate and checking the area “plus there's always something or other wondering the area but only in the morning or evening. Come in the height of the day and they have cleared off as that's when the humans patrol”  
“That how you found out about it?” He asked with a raised eyebrow  
“Followed the traders for a while. When I first came about... helped get the lay of the land”  
She opened the door into the building and Harkness had to fight the urge to carefully back out again. The place looked like it was going to fall if you coughed but she seemed confident enough  
The tears had dried and she seemed back to her old self on the surface at least, he worried she was angry at him, he hadn't meant for it to seem like he was panicking but even the talk of marriage was hard to believe to both of his sides. She was so young, he was worried she was looking for some permanency to get her through the lose of her father more than making a serious life choice. It was best to keep it quiet for now. He didn't want to upset her again  
They moved down by simply climbing the radio tower that had brought the roof down it seemed she had cut a side of it and moved it to rest down to the basement  
“How did you do that?” He asked.  
The metal was a big, heavy structure that he doubted a hundred men could move  
“Reprogrammed the robots, set up a few winches and pulleys and shifted it” She said with a shrug  
“Sometimes I wonder where this world would be if they even gave you a bit of power”  
“Well into recovery” She said with a sigh  
He actually believed that  
The door was the usual thick heavy blast door and she opened with a command from her pip-boy, then they went down a staircase hidden in the floor and then through another blast door and then Harkness stood in awe. There was a big wide two pillared room that was stacked with crates each crate was filled with items from old vacuums to the little batteries and condensers. There was food, medicine and then in the room with shelves there were clothes folded in piles, boxes and boxes of ammo and guns stacked neatly  
“What the hell are you planning?” He demanded  
She stopped and brought down a computer typing in a code she opened the door to reveal a bunker. This was pretty empty except for the shelves of parts and items in various states of repair  
She pulled the bag to the shelves and started organising the “To-be-dealt-with” Items and checking off things off of clipboards  
“Do you really have to know?” She sighed  
“Yes. I need to know what the hell your planning since there are people out there begging for a single bullet and you seem to own... half the god damn wasteland”  
She rolled her eyes and sighed, she looked over at him as she hung up one clipboard and picked up another. She checked the paperwork and then started stacking the items that didn't need work. Guns, ammo stacked (everything but the ammo she and him needed) some food was left some kept back the meds were kept in the bag   
“Do you ever wonder why people are scrabbling for the few scraps that are left from the world before the bombs but no one has done anything to make the world better again?” She asked  
She finally stopped and looked at him. He didn't say anything just nodded before watching her expectantly crossing his arms over his chest as if waiting for a naughty child to explain their actions  
“So you got a plan?” He asked softly  
“It won't save the world but god damn it's a way forwards. It's a way to get people trading properly. Putting money in communities. Barter and pay for work done. Invest in shops and people. Get people learning trades, apprenticeships... basic education”  
Harkness looked at the items all the clothes were repaired and even cleaned the best she could, the weapons had all been repaired the broken items removed and worked on. She could get two thousand for one of her Gatling lasers alone  
“The slaves out in the temple of the one, they want to fix up the Lincoln memorial. they have stone masons but they lack tools and money I need work doing and I plan to pay them what they ask for guns, tools, food, clothes ... money. Give them work, give people who want it training”  
“And you'll pay for it all... you'll get them all started again?” He said with a raised eyebrow  
“Well I ain't hoarding this all for me?” She said coldly “I eat, shoot and wear what I scavenge the rest is trade and barter. Yeah people are starving right now but If I got all of this without any idea how the world worked when I first came here then maybe it's their damn fault”  
“Alright.... say you have the caps, that you have the equipment, Where are you going to start you just gonna start handing out weapons and food?” He asked softly  
“I have that planned.” She said softly moving over to him  
“Where?” He asked again  
She smiled a knowing smile and walked the last distance and mirroring his stance his feet shoulder width apart, his arms crossed over his chest and the raised eyebrow  
“That.... I ain't telling you” She said with a smile  
“What you don't trust me?” He said softly  
“Not that... it's just right now I don't want to Jinx it... I want to wait to see if it is possible”  
He stopped and looked her over  
“You really are one of a kind” He said softly  
She smiled and gave him a gentle shove to the door her hand staying on his shoulder for a few seconds before letting it drop  
“I guess we have something in common then”


	9. Chapter 9

“ _This is an automated distress message from Vault-Tec: Vault 101. Message begins: It feels like you left home a long time ago, but I know you're still out there. I just hope you're still alive to hear this. Things got worse after you left. My father's gone mad with power. If you can hear this, please stop looking for your_ _dad_ _and help stop mine. I changed the door password to my name. If you're hearing this, and if you still care enough to help me, you should remember it. Message repeats:”_  
  
The door opened quietly making Harkness look up. She had been out running some things to Rivet city and so he had hung round Megaton, he had been working on his own armour and guns at the work bench using the time alone to get everything up to standard again. He gave her a smile but she didn't reciprocate so he turned back to the work at hand. The locker beside him went with a clang as she threw in the left overs and bought items into the storage space and turned her eyes to him. For a moment he didn't move he could feel she was wanting to fight someone  
“Yes?” He asked eventually turning to the women.  
“Would you ever go back to the commonwealth if you needed to help them?”  
He had expected her to have a go about the mess on the bench or joke about how she would take the items out of his cut  
“No…” He said with a slight laugh in his voice  
“Not even if they begged you?” She asked flatly  
“No” He simply said again  
“Not even the other synths?”  
She avoided the terms Android and Robots and she pointed out he wasn't a robot he was a synthetic human made instead of born but still human  
“What is this about?” He asked a little tiredly  
She walked upstairs and he followed curious about this latest mood. It had been a long road to recovery after her father and he did suspect she still wasn't fully over it but this wasn't the usual refusal to talk about the man or the events. There was something else eating at her. She turned on her Pip-boy but it wasn't three dog that called to her it was a women someone he hadn't heard before. She turned round and without a word he helped her undo her chest and back plate before she started to silently strip her armour off as he listened to the message  
“Picked it up on the way back from rivet city…” She just said as she turned up the volume so he could hear it repeat again  
“They want you back?” He asked softly  
“Well they can go fuck themselves. they don't want me back they want me to fix they're shitty little problems and hope I'm not to pissed about the whole trying to kill me incident” She sneered  
For a moment he thought about what this meant to her. They had thrown her out and now they were begging her to come back.  
“You should go” He said softly  
This made her turn to him. She clicked it off again and stepped into her trousers and boots and pulled on her vest. She had made it clear that if he was uncomfortable with her changing in front of him then he should turn round they spent far to much time together to be prudish  
“No” She said firmly “Let them kill themselves, wait till they fuck each other over… I'll kill the last one alive and take my god damn vault back!” She snapped  
She was pissed and he could understand why, how she had talked the fight for survival that ended with her leaving was a hard one and now they wanted her to come back and save them?… he already said he wouldn't do it for the commonwealth but she had a lot of issues and with her father dying they were starting to drown her the latest most worrying symptom was her nightmares. She would wake screaming in the night and then pad around the house till dawn  
“You need to work through this… you need closure” he said softly  
“You need closure” She muttered  
Both knew he had won but neither was going to say it he had learnt long ago being smug after winning an argument was simply an invitation for the start of a second argument. She didn't leave she just took a deep breath and sat heavily on the bed  
“Come with me” She said softly  
“You want me to?” He said coming to sit next her  
“Yeah… I can't do this alone” She whispered  
“Alright… but you have to admit I was right” he said trying to lighten the mood  
She scoffed and pulled on her traders hat pulling it over her eyes to hide her expression this time he had enough of her shutting him out when life got a little too real. He pulled the hat off and she growled before getting up and walking out to the door  
“Don't be a Dick” She warned  
He followed putting on the hat and pulling it down to hide all but his lips and chin  
“It's hard to have a conversation with the brim of a hat” He pointed out  
How did she see what was going on? all he could see was her feet maybe that was the point shut out the world shut out the feelings  
“Give it back” She said stepping forwards  
“Nope… come on… ask me how I am?” He said trying to make a point  
For a moment he thought she was going to grab it, that he had pushed her too far  
“Think I prefer you in it” She sighed “…Fine. How are you?”  
“Fine” He grunted doing an impression of a sulking teenager  
“Well that's me convinced maybe I'll just shut up and mind my own business.” She snapped in her Harkness impression  
He pulled the hat up and gave her a slight smile and unconvinced eyes  
“You have never minded your own damn business” He declared  
She watched him for a moment before pulling the hat off and pulled it on her own head but she didn't pulled the brim down she didn't shut him out, he took the tops of her arms and stepped closer, She tried dropping her head and he bent his to look into her eyes his pale blue eyes looking intently at her  
“Go home... I'll come with you, close the wounds and help them... Then walk away and never give them another thought” He said softly  
She nodded and turned to get two cola's out the machine and handed one to him. He still didn't drink and she had to wonder if it was because he was worried his human side would react. They had taken to spending there nights drinking Nuka-cola on the sofa and chatting, it was a nice time the only time she truly let her guard down, no one wanted anything from her, they could just sit and talk. He settled down stretching his legs out in front of him and his arms along the back of the sofa, she lay on the sofa her legs over his lap and he watched her for a moment.  
“So who is the women?” He asked softly  
“Amata... She was my best friend. The guys all disliked her because she's the overseer's daughter and I was… well I was me, so I didn't get on with people so we got on with each other. Her mum died when she was young as well and so we had that in common. But her father was insane. When his wife died he made it impossible for people to be… alone. He actually made it a law that is you had sex then you had to report to the clinic for testing, screening for infections or pregnancy… and you had to declare who the partner was. If you didn't report or you were fund to be pregnant and it wasn't reported then you were punished. So on one had sex. After Amata was born we was the last generation so unless he revokes the law or someone stops him then no one else we will be starting a family in that place”  
She fell silent mainly because his hand had rested on her shin and he gave her leg a squeeze  
“So… did you… have to report to your father?” He asked softly  
She sat up a little to look at him  
“No… I reported to Jonas, his assistant” She said with a smile  
“So there was a boyfriend?” He asked  
“No… well yes and no” She sighed “It's complicated”  
Harkness nodded  
“Oh well yeah, You know I don't understand complicated. My life has been so simple I don't know if I could handle a teenage love triangle”  
She laughed and sat up fully opting for the safer option of no contact as she rested her arm on the back of the sofa cupping her own head and watched him  
“Nothing like that. There was a guy, he was an asshole, you know the vault bully... Butch. He was really aggressive and abrasive to everyone. All quick temper and fists... I guess it's my type… He was always ragging on me and Amata for being daddies girls. He had a real problems that we had dads and no mother, you see his mum was someone who drank heavy and lets just say they didn't know who his dad was… Could you imagine living with a group of men knowing anyone of them could be your father and not one of them loved you enough to admit that you were their child?”  
The logical, mechanical part of Harkness wanted to shrug but the human side understood  
“Must of messed him up”  
“It did, he got angry and he hated me because I had a dad… who…” She couldn't carry on that part she silently struggled to find another place to start from  
“I guess also the fact you didn't have a drunk as a mother?” He said trying to keep from anything that shut her down  
“Yeah…. And well he hated Amata and I think… Because. Well I suspected that Butch was her half brother, And I think he knew that too... There were times when the others would try and harass her because she was. developed younger than the rest and he would join in but I got the feeling he did it just to save face. can't defend her or refuse but doesn't really want to...”  
"I would of refused"  
"That's because your an adult man.... He was a sixteen year old boy" She sighed "Desperate to be accepted, What he meant to say "I can't guys she might be my sister" I think it's why me and him ended up together. Least he knew there was no blood between us, My father didn't even treat his mother without someone present."  
“So he was the boy huh?” He asked softly  
She nodded and shrugged  
“We got put in the holding cell for the night. He had been caught stealing some booze for his mother and I was out passed curfew… I had been checking traps and evidence of pests in the reactor, they could of just sent me to my dad but decided to put me in holding cell.”  
“So that’s when it happened?”  
She nodded and finished her cola. We got into a fight because he just wouldn't shut up but where as we used punch and kick the hell out of each other till one gave in it got.. heated  
“Didn't the guards stop it?” He asked a little alarmed that they were put in the same cell to begin with  
“No one was getting laid, everyone was frustrated they were to busy watching through the one way mirror to stop two kids”  
Harkness sneered in disgust at the thought of someone being that unprofessional and someone else with her  
“You don't seem pissed that your first time had an audience” He said with a frown  
She shrugged  
“It bothered me… a lot."   
“So why not stop?” He asked frowning  
“Cause I didn't want to stop… I was a teenage too, just as frustrated and hormonal as Butch was. Besides it didn't exactly last that long” She said with a grin  
Harkness couldn't help but laugh. As always she stopped and watched him the mood shifted with eye contact, the two watching each other as he finished his bottle and put the empty onto the floor

“So did you two start up after that?” He finally asked  
“Nah… nothing like boyfriend, girlfriend. too many people watching and we had to keep up our reputations and with the camera's about there wasn't exactly anywhere we could be alone, but once or twice we found ourselves down in the reactor level together"  
Harkness laughed just a chuckle in the throat  
“Alright… I don't think I want to hear much more” He declared  
She laughed and ran her fingertips through his hair messing up the side a little. Her nails running down the back of his neck making him shiver  
“You shouldn't get jealous…” She said softly  
“I'm not” He muttered crossing his arms over his chest “Just don't think I want to hear about you and some… boy”  
She laughed softly and stood, leaning down she kissed his cheek letting her lips linger by his ear  
"There is no reason to even think you are on the same level as him…” She whispered before heading to her room  
He didn't follow he just kicked off his boots and changed into his sleepwear bottoms moving the pillows from the sofa putting one to soften the arm the other behind the sofa and pulling out his blankets he laid down on his bed and pulled the blankets over his legs for a moment he thought about the women in the other room. What was he doing? Waiting for her to change her mind about them... about him? They needed to decide for once and for all… was she going to be with him or not? Because they were just torturing themselves  
“We'll go tomorrow morning…” She said from her room, no need to shout she knew he could hear her

A scream rang through the house making him leap to his feet it wasn't a single scream. She was calling out screaming at someone worst than the normal night time ritual of nightmares then quiet padding. Harkness ran into the room to see her sitting up in bed her eyes glassy and wide in the darkness  
“No!” She screamed “....Dad!”  
She fell out of bed and looked round scared and confused the impact with the floor had woken her up as he came over to pick her up  
“You were having a nightmare” He whispered  
She didn't speak she just wrapped her arms round him. The talk of her past had brought everything back up it seemed. Harkness gently sat on the bed with her on his lap and she nuzzled into his neck she was shaking as he pulled the blankets round them it seemed as if she had gone back to sleep but when he tried to put her on the bed she shook her head and held onto his neck  
“No.. please, don't leave” She begged her voice barely over a whisper  
He had never known her like this, he shushed her assuring her he wasn't going anywhere as he laid down next to her and she settled down. She moved to lay next to him with her ear to his chest, slowly her breathing slowed and became steady her hand laying over his heart  
“Alright… I get the hint.” He said softly to the universe  
He just settled on the bed he was lucky that he didn't feel discomfort when recharging, hells he could do it standing in the corner but he did prefer the bed. He closed his eyes and let his systems shut down  
A second later and she was giving his cheek a gentle slap making him open his eyes. No it wasn't a second it was morning and she was dressed in her armour. She even had the helmet in her hand as she sat on the bed next to him. He looked about and frowned  
“Just fell asleep” He yawned  
“Well it's time to get going” She called “I'll meet you at the gates. Gonna do some trading”  
Harkness sat up resting on his elbows and watched her, there was no sign of the emotion from last night as she walked out and down to get on with the usual morning ritual. She would empty the robot, feed the dog and grab a few more things to sell up and then meet him at the gates giving him a chance to get up and ready without the two of them getting under each others feet so he got dressed stamping on his boots but without lacing them up before grabbing his bag of toiletries and he heading for the bathrooms.  
The room was empty as he washed and got out his razor. Louie had found him a cut throat and strop, meaning he could get a good close shave. He had to admit he would loved it if he could find a way to stop the synthetic hair from growing until he wanted a beard. He hated shaving but he hated the idea of a beard more  
“Hello?” A female voice called through the door “Anyone in here?”  
“Just me” He called back  
Lucy west came into the bathroom sheepishly  
“Sorry… But the girls is full… Do you mind?” She asked  
He smiled and shook his head and he washed his face and combed his hair  
“No... I'm not long done” He said with a smile  
She nodded and quietly came to stand by the sink. The girl undid her hair and started brushing it letting the long golden tresses fall down her back  
“Umm… I know it's an odd thing but, could you wait with me. I wouldn't want someone else to come in while I'm in here” She said sheepishly  
He thought about the timing figuring Lou would still be selling up at Moria's, he had time to get dressed and meet her before she got too impatient  
“Nope…” He said with a smile  
He finished combing his hair before brushing his teeth and went to lean against the back wall watching her through the mirror  
“I have to admit… When I first saw you with Louie I thought you looked like someone who could keep us safe” She said with a smile  
for a moment he watched her and gave a soft smile back  
“Apparently Lou thought the same thing” He said with a shrug  
“So…. Are you guys together?” She asked softly  
“No” He said quickly  
She nodded putting her hair back up in a bun and washing her face and hands  
“So… would you like to come and get a drink sometime?” She asked softly  
Harkness looked the women over and frowned as she came to stand in front of him  
“How old are you?” He asked softly  
“Twenty” She said with a shrug  
What was it with all the young people? And what was it with them asking him out? Most of the Rivet city residence didn't even look twice at him… But then in rivet city there was more choice than a recovering addict, a sleazy bar owner, Billy who set off every one of his ass-hole alarm and a crazy cult. He gave her a smile and went to open the door for her  
“I don't drink” He said with a smile hoping she got the hint  
The girl walked up and stood in the doorway with him pushing herself up against him  
“Neither do I” She said softly  
The girl leant up and kissed the corner of his mouth  
“I'll keep that in mind” he said softly looking at her.  
He reached up and gently pushed her hair behind her ear and she smiled. Something made him wince; he looked down to see Louie was standing outside the shop with a look that could kill, she raised a delicate eyebrow and just gave a 'typical men' laugh and shook her head before pulling on her helmet, turning and jogging up the ramp towards the gate  
“Walk me back to my house?" Lucy asked sweetly taking his hand "It's on the way to yours"


	10. Chapter 10

_"Thrrreeee Dooooggg! That's me, kids. Comin' to you taped from my fortified bunker in the middle of a D.C. hell hole. Ain't life grand? Got lots of stuff goin' down in Post Apocalyptia these days. Here some of the latest news. Who says you can't go home again, huh? The kid from Vault 101 did, but it looks like the prodigal daughter's return didn't last all that long. She was seen coming out of the Vault, again, and headed God knows where. Don't let that revolving door hit you on the ass on the way out! Today's weather, excessively violent, with a chance of dismemberment. Tune in later for our five day forecast! And now, some music."_

For the second time in a lifetime the vault heard the sounds of the sirens and the rumbling of the 13 tonne door that shook the floor and pillars everyone stopped and tensed but no one left their posts. The air shifted in the entrance as the great mechanics moved to open the cog shaped door. Dust swirled round the room lifting up before sinking quietly back down again. The world was opened and two figured slowly paced back into the room one was holding a Chinese rifle level as he swept the room and other fully in power armour swept the room the opposite way till the two of them were looking at each other. For a moment they seem to actually think about pulling the trigger before the man dropped his gun and the other pulled off her helmet.  
“No... She's a lovely girl… If you like manipulative bitches…. Can you get STD's?” She asked turning her back to the man and heading up the stairs  
“What are you trying to say?” Harkness demanded  
“Just that… She's probably… you know… disease ridden. You know she slept with Billy? I heard it was because she got him to fix her door…”  
She looked at the panel and for the third time he tried counting to ten, the siren started again as she punched in the command  
“Careful. Don't get caught in the machine and get crushed” She called before turning to checked the room. Evidence of fighting had happened in this room… recently. She moved Through to the small side room and looked round without much emotion she stuck a couple of radroaches with her trench knife and stopped to check over two dead bodies.They had been there a few days and was starting to rot as the air settled in the rooms the smell started to sting their nose and throat  
“Bastards” She hissed checking the bodies over for anything useful  
“Did you know them?” Harkness asked softly  
“I knew everyone in here Harkness. I grew up in here” She spat  
“It was nothing … she's trying to wind you up.” He sighed trying to make peace “I have never detected anything that would say she finds me attractive”  
“No. She's trying to get in your pants” She half shouted as she stood and walked passed him “She doesn't need to find you attractive! She's just a slut with a massive…”  
“Why would you care if I let her get in my pants?” He interrupted not wanting to hear her finish that sentence “We're two different people remember? We could never figure out how to make our lives work together"  
The two glared at each other and he could tell she was going to start when the door further into the vault opened. The man looked at the two of them as Harkness was in mid point about to tell her to shut up before she even started and she was mid hand gesture.  
“Stop right there! I don't know how you two got in here but… Hold on. Wait a minute! It's you! I hardly recognised you with all the dust and grim from out there… Guess that explains how you got that door open you got more experience with it than most everyone combined” He said with a laugh  
“Officer Gomez?!” She simply said in surprised “Now here's someone I've missed!”  
Harkness snorted and crossed his arms over his chest he couldn't get her comment out of his head about them watching her, and it made him want to growl and snarl like a protective dog when this man touched her. He couldn't figure out what it hurt more his respect for security and protection or the idea of someone leering over Louie. The men looked each other over and Harkness glared at him, the man looked confused and a little worried. Lou just kicked him, this wasn't the playful kick she usually gave him this was an actual kick as she glared at him  
“Officer Gomez wasn't one of them. Just shut up” She hissed  
Harkness looked from one to the other and sighed  
“You're the boss” He muttered and leant on the wall  
"How come when you say that is sounds like your saying Fuck you" She hissed  
"Talent I guess" He growled  
She moved through the door and spent some time talking to the men quietly and he had time to truly look round the openings to the vault and it occurred to him that this was what she was, where she came from before her wasteland baptism of fire and lead. Both of them were out casts from their own world and one of the things they would talk about was their homes but to see this Vault he had to wonder how she had managed to adjust as much as she had. He knew one thing. One way or another he would get her back for the kick… but then again, maybe he did deserve it. The two were talking about things he didn't understand more than what Lou had told him and he had to admit he was curious but he couldn't help give a bark of laugher as the man's politely ask for forgiveness at using mild language in front of Lou, he had seen that women make Jericho blush when she got annoyed  
It seemed that Louie and her father caused some kind of revolution and now people were fighting for what they thought was best for the vault  
“Dad… would be horrified to find that out” She said softly “If he were still alive”  
The man's expression fell. Closing his eyes he shook his head  
“Oh… I'm sorry to hear that. Regardless of how things turned out down here, he was a good friend. I always figured he would do well outside. Matter of fact a lot of folk started thinking he had the right idea. He usually did. So if it was safe out there, why stay down here forever? Well the overseer didn't like that one bit, and started cracking down on that sort of thought, Guess he didn't plan on your coming back.”  
“So… what now?” She asked clearing her throat  
“I probably should put you two under arrest and take you to the overseer, but frankly I know better than to try that with you and he looks like he could swing a punch. Meanwhile some of your old friends think opening the vault is a good idea. I bet those rebels would like a word with you no doubt. Now, more than ever”  
The man looked from Lou to Harkness and shrugged  
“Of course. If you want, you can just walk away as if you were never here. Out of respect for your dad, I wont even tell anyone I saw you”  
For a moment she thought and then turned heading for the door and the two men looked at each other. Mr Gomez was desperate as he looked at the man leaning on the wall Harkness didn't say anything he just held up a finger to him and turned to look at her  
“So your just going to leave?” Harkness called without moving  
“Yeah… They can all rot. I could have killed him that night. Should of put a bullet in his brain but Amata begged me not to, _begged_  me to keep him alive. They brought this on themselves!” She called  
“All of them?” He simply asked her  
She stopped and turned slowly to look at Officer Gomez and then to Harkness  
“Not all, no” She admitted quietly  
Harkness nodded and tilted his head to rest it on the wall  
“So why not finish the job?”  
She through for a moment and nodded turning back to the doorway and stopped next to Gomez  
“I'll see what I can do about all of this”  
“Well, OK. Just be careful down here the vaults changed, I can tell you”  
The security officer moved away and she turned to Harkness  
“Come on” She said coldly  
He silently nodded and pushed off the wall keeping behind her  
"You're the boss..."  
They moved through the corridors and up into the main area where raised voices could be heard. Both tensed and he felt her hand slip into his, her fingers lacing between his. Even when she was pissed at him she still reached out for him in time of uncertainty. He didn't pull away he gave her hand a squeeze and kept close  
The small group came out into a two levelled room there was a doorway with a barricade and an older gentleman standing with a gun. The other side of the room was a young man no older than Lou.  
“Freddie” She said softly  
“You know I can't do that Freddie, Go back down below before I have to do something we'll both regret!” The man shouted  
He couldn't hear his reply but he did hear the words tunnel snake… what was a tunnel snake?  
“Stay back!”  
The man's voice was too stressed, too high pitched as he pulled out his gun and with shaking hands and pointed it at the young boy. The man went to pull the trigger and Lou went to shove the old man the shot went wild and the boy ran off  
“Stop shooting!” Both Lou and Gomez shouted. The old man turned to see who had grabbed his gun without even looking she dropped the magazine into her hand and dropped both parts on the floor  
The older officer tried to argue but she wasn't paying attention silently she had turned to look up into a window, she was looking up at someone with murderous eyes. He followed her gaze to see an older man standing in front of a round window his eyes watching her  
“This is going to stop” She growled. She started to walk off heading for the door on the opposite side of the atrium and Harkness simply followed. He had to admit he was curious why no one was trying to stop her... she must of left an impression when she left

Why was it the first person they came across have to be the one person Harkness didn't want to see and had kind of hoped was one of the bodies by the door  
“Well look who's come waltzing back into the vault? It took some real balls coming back after everything you and your dad screwed up” A young lad called out as they passed a barricade  
“Butchie!” She laughed “Should of known you would be with this lot.”  
The boy swaggered up to her and took in the women that most considered to be the last hope for humanity and gave her a disproving sneer  
“Guess if we gotta have you back in here, you might as well make yourself useful. You gotta help us” He said raising his eyebrow  
The boy turned his pale eyes to look at Harkness. The two of them recognised each other instantly, he was a trouble maker, thief and a fighter and Harkness was still someone who enforced the law even if they were moral more than legal. Even if they never had met they knew they hated each other  
“Who's the old man?” He asked jutting his chin  
“He's my companion, he helps me out there... watches my back” She said with a shrug  
“Looks like he might brake a hip” he said with a mocking laugh  
“Why do you think I would help you Butch?” She said trying to distract the two men from each other she took Butch's hand and pulled him round a little so he wasn't looking at Harkness and to his annoyance they didn't let go after, to the point he played his thumb over her hand  
“What sort of help do you think I mean? You heard about the changes since you left right?” He said with a frown turning his attention to the women again. “The deaths, the lies the whole overseers lock down ring any bells? They would have so rushed in here ages ago if they didn't know I stole a gun from when they issued martial law, anyway you gotta help us get out of here… you gotta help me”  
He took a step towards her and she didn't move just watched him for a moment  
“I'm here to help the entire vault Butch... Not just you”  
“Screw the vault! What about me?” He said “Even the rebels just want the option to go outside for lousy trading and stuff I just want to get out of here for good, why get stuck being a barber for my entire life when I could go out there and make my own choices?”  
“So the goat was right… Your a hairdresser?” She teased  
“I'm a Barber! You get me! There's a difference!”  
“But you could still give me a haircut?” She asked with a frown  
The boy leant in and took her hair in his hands gently pulling it out of its tie and letting it fall down her shoulder  
“You still going for the red huh?” He said looking at the tips and then letting his fingers play long the length again "could do with another dye, roots are showing..."  
“Was thinking of going blonde actually” She said looking over at Harkness  
“Stay red…” Butch said with a nod “Always liked the red”  
She smiled and tied the hair back up before leaning forwards and kissing him on the corner of the mouth. Butch's eyes met with Harkness and smiled a teasing smile that made Harkness's knuckles twitch with a want to punch that smug face  
“Missed you Butchie.” She said softly “But why the hell should I help you?”  
The two stood back apart and butch grinned  
“Cause your a goody two shoes, so when I need help I know you'll do it. You're gonna help Amata anyway so just make it so everyone has to leave then I'll get out and you wont see me again”  
She sighed softly and took his hand again  
“I gotta go, I need to talk to Amata"  
He held her hand till the last moment bit of contact  
“Yeah, catch you later” His eyes turned to Harkness as he offered him a smug grin “Maybe we can catch up like old times when you ain't got the old man around?”  
The two rounded the corner and she could feel Harkness steaming behind her  
“What the hell was that?” He demanded in a whisper  
“What? It was just a kiss nothing really” She said with sniff  
“I really hate you sometimes” He said as they walked further into the rebels area  
He was about to inform her that her “Ex” Was the worst kind of asshole and needed more than a swift punch to shut him up when they stopped in the doorway of a doctors clinic  
“Can we talk about this later” She said softly  
He simply stepped back and let her process what was left of her fathers neat little clinic. The beds on the floor the items tossed about then her eyes stopped in a corner. She walked over to one of the tables to see a box of items, there was a framed picture of her and her father she must of only been ten or so as her fingers traced the glass above her fathers face. There was a hand written passage written in calligraphy and some old holotapes as well as some more photos the awkward teenage years. Just her and her father, it seemed each year they would take a picture of them standing side by side. She didn't hesitate she simply put the items in her bag  
“Oh my god you're back! You got my message and actually came back!”  
A girl called running over to her. For a moment she didn't know how to hug her with the armour on and the two laughed despite the situation. Lou unclipped the chest piece from the back plate on both sides leaving the shoulders connected and easily slipped off the top of the armour. The two hugged and for a moment they just stood in each others arms. Harkness just silently watched the amour on the floor.  
_He was exhausted but he knew his day wasn't at an end till one last job was done. He walked up behind her and gently put his arms on her waist the gentle sound of the armour powering down. First the shoulder plates had to came off his fingers almost brushing her neck as he pulled the catches and lifted them off and then he slipped his arms round her waist one hand laying on her stomach the other on her chest and with a gentle squeeze his chest and arm muscles contracting against the warm armour, there was a click and the chest and back plate came apart in his hands  
_ “ _Thanks… don't know how I would get that off if you didn't help me” she said tilting her head back to talk to him  
__Every night he helped her with that fucking armour  
_ The women always knew how to get the damn thing off!  
“I was just in the neighbourhood and thought I would drop by” She sighed  
“Everything's gone crazy since you left but now that you're back you can help sort everything out”  
Others were gathering round is seemed no one was too far away and now people were silently shifting through the door and watching the two women and him  
This is where I grew up… This was my home I couldn't just leave it in chaos” she sighed going to sit on one of bed  
“Chaos doesn't even cover it! It's a nightmare down here. People dyed that night and all because my father went crazy trying to keep someone from opening the vault. And worst of all we found out that the vault had been opened before – They'd lied about it all our lives”  
Lou looked over at Harkness who was doing a great impression of a statue his eyes just moving to her once in a while… he was not looking impressed maybe she had pushed it with him and the whole kissing Butch or it was taking the armour off herself it was only when she had done it that she remembered he was stood there. why had he picked this time to listen to her and not say anything. Damn, they were all looking at her to reply to Amata  
“I guess that explains why I found a vault one oh one suit outside” She mused  
Amata nodded eagerly and came to stand in front of her  
“After that night I heard Wally's dad say we should never have taken you or your dad into the vault. I found out the vault used to be open, but some reason, they closed it off when we were babies and swore to hide it ever happened. Keeping that lie meant Jonas's death. And even though we know the truth, the overseer wont let us make our own decisions!”  
The whole group around them held there breath and Lou cursed not just leaving when officer Gomez offered in the first place but listening to that damn man  
“Sounds like he's gone crazy with power and needs to be stopped”  
“You're absolutely right. It's not like we want to abandon the vault or anything”  
“Butch does” Lou sniffed  
“But he's too much of a coward to go out on his own” She shrugged “Most have accepted that going outside was certain death and things would always stay the same down here. But now we know they don't have to be… After all, it was enough to get you and your dad to leave so there has to be something good out there”  
Lou was watching Harkness the last comment made him frown and looked up at the women in front of them he was fighting an opinion and she would have given anything to find out that that opinion was. But she guessed it would have to wait he was over playing the “Just shut up” Comment  
“One or two things” she said softly  
She watched Harkness soften a little in his expression before she turned back to Amata  
“Why don't you just leave? There's not much security” Lou said with a shrug  
“Don't you get it? We don't want to abandon the vault. We want it open! We still want this to be our home but we want to get supplies from outside. Trading, exploring, any thing’s better than just hiding down here”  
Lou rubbed the palms of her hands on her eyelids and sighed heavily  
“What I can't tell is why this is my fault or problem?” She demanded  
“The real problems came after you left, The injured had nobody to turn to, since our doctor had run off, and his assistant had died. Now we have to rely on that old Mr handy for most our medical needs. And he hasn't exactly got the best bedside manner. Ever had an examination from someone with cold metal pincers? You don't want to”  
Lou just laughed and stood walking over to her armour and picked it up  
“What's so funny?” Amata demanded  
“This entire situation is a joke… you think you seriously have problems, you think having a robot as a doctor is the biggest issue? when none of you have ever thought of just trying to learn from the education database? How do you think the previous physicians learnt... how do you think anyone learnt there trade? Just one of you read a damn book! Not one of you has seen the world you live in and thought you could make it better. You're all sheep without a Shepard too busy blaming others to fix the problems. That's why you are all staring at me with your desperate eyes. You think opening the doors will make it better?”  
“I think the vault survived the last time it was opened”  
Lou laughed again and connected her power armour the soft glow starting back up again  
“Fine… I'll help you. But I will do it on my terms and what I think is best for this place for one simple reason… that's what every single one of you is begging me to do because none of you has the imagination or brains you were born with to deal with this. The only person who thinks he knows what he wants is butch. He might not truly understand the situation out there, but at least he know what he wants and is working towards achieving his idiotic plan"  
She walked towards the door and Harkness followed  
“Please...” Amata called making them stop “Just don't do anything rash, or hurt him”  
Lou didn't respond for a moment she seemed stunned and then took time to think about a few responses before just shaking her head tiredly and carrying on walking

They got to the end of the corridor and headed out into another set. He was completely lost but she seemed to know where she was going  
“What you planning?” He finally asked  
She stopped and shook her head  
“Not till you tell me what's your opinion of this and the people” She said he eyes serious "Your seeing them through a strangers eyes... What do you think"  
“About what…. Right now I have a few”  
She crossed her arms over her chest mirroring his usual stance  
“Tell me them” She said flatly  
“Butch is more than an ass-hole, he's trouble and has every kind of Mommy/Daddy issues you could find. He'll charge out there with his little pistol and get his ass shot to shit”  
“The kiss bothering you that much?” She said with a grin  
He stepped forwards and ran his hands along the collar off the armour hooking his finger into the armour and roughly pulled her into him  
“That wasn't a kiss, that was nothing but an obvious attempt to get me annoyed and try to get even for some little girl coming onto me.”  
“It was still a kiss no matter what the motives” She argued her tone quiet  
His hand moved to her chin and his thumb rested on her bottom lip before moving to her cheek his fingers gripped the front of her armour keeping her from backing up not that she did as he leant in, the two of them moving back onto the wall. The power field that came from the amour jumped to Harkness and charged him through his metal structure, he tilted his head and she did the same not fighting him one bit, his lips tingled and a spark jumped the distance as they closed the gap, they kissed readily the power built when his tongue touched her's making her entire body tingle. His actions were masterful and for a moment she swore she saw sparkes and fireworks, The kiss was over far to quickly for her as he slowly pulled back resting his hand on the wall behind. She wanted to grab him and pull him back to her but she didn't, she did reluctantly removed her hands from his ass. The connection between them broke and sparks jumped from their damp lips  
“That is a kiss” He said softly  
He lent in again gently resting his lips on the corner of her mouth  
“That is nothing”  
He pulled away from her completely and she thanked the gods for the armour keeping her upright, her entire body tingling as she fought for her mind to start again  
“So.. Butch is an ass-hole?” She said closing her eyes and clearing her throat  
He couldn't help but grin  
“And Amata is a manipulative bitch. All that talk of it must be good for you to leave. My understanding of this was it was leave or die and now she's making it sound like you just skipped out. And your right about the situation none are even willing to make life better they just bitch whine and blame” He said with a shrug  
“The overseer is crazy?” She tried  
“No… The overseer is stupid… no one has had children in this place since you and the others were born right?” He asked  
She nodded  
“That rule was brought in then so when it came to his daughter dating he could make sure no one was touching his daughter and I'm guessing also to make sure he could control of his dirty little secret from came out. Your right Amata and Butch are related or at least they display sixty percent identifiable facial features suggesting paternal related DNA since children develop stronger male facial fetures its easier to compare than the same mother But it's been at a cost of the entire vault... There are what? Half the residence dead after the riots and fighting?”  
Again she nodded. She had gotten used to the synthetic side coming to the surface when it was needed but it always reminded Lou that no matter how smart she was or how finely tuned her senses, he was in another league. She never backchatted A3-21 it never seened right, she would only ever tease, bait and backchat Harkness  
“So even if everyone under thirty five had four kids and then they were matched up to avoid redundant genes and all of them had four kids no matter how much you try you will end up with impure gene pool in no time? There is not enough genetic diversity to keep this place going. Maybe before all the fighting but not now”  
Lou nodded slowly and thought about it. She smiled and nodded  
“I was just gonna kill him and declare it couldn't be helped.... but I think I'll start with that” She sighed  
“And if he doesn't listen?” He asked  
“Then we kill him”

The door to the office opened and the two of them stepped in to find a middle aged man simply staring out the window  
“Well it seems you have returned. Done with the dust and ruin of the wasteland, are you? Given up with looking for Daddy?”  
That made her tense. She didn't say anything she just swung her (Well now it was her's) Ever present plasma rifle into her hands  
“Thought you could slink back in, like a teen missing curfew? Well that's too bad, you have no future in our vault, you're tainted”  
Lou gave a snort through her nose and reloaded the gun  
“With your leadership, no one in this vault has much of a future old man”  
“That is where you're wrong little girl. By locking down this vault I'm protecting it's future. In fact I was protecting it's future when I had to make those unpleasant choices the night you and your father abandoned us.”  
“Did everyone in here take an overdose of fucking stupid pills?” Lou sneered “What is wrong with anyone. Do you really think we are to blame here?”  
The overseer glared at the girl  
“I only wish I had stopped your father before he left. If anyone is to blame for the unpleasantness it's him”  
She shook her head and powered up the gun it seemed she wasn't taking his bait right now  
“What do you mean “Future success?”  
“Ah, you're paying attention, good for you” He patronised “These vaults were designed to be safe havens for humanity you see. But more than that they were designed to test and protect us… and none more than our vault 101. We are to be pure and protected breed of humans, never tainted by the ravages of the war above”  
“It doesn't need to be isolated to be kept safe” She said softly her fingers tracing the trigger guard  
“And what makes you so certain about that?” He demanded “I can't imagine you're still so naive after spending time in the hell outside, none of them know what the world is like, and most of them would die out there. Then the rest of us would eventually die out, too”  
Lou looked up at that comment  
“I won't risk all of our lives just for a few people's passing fancy of taking a wasteland vacation. I just hope you can understand that”  
“They are annoyed you lied to them” She said softly her attention turning back to the gun in her hands  
“It was done for the best result. We did it to stop them going out there and getting killed. To stop history from repeating itself, to stop them making the same mistakes we did when we were their age some of us already lost loved ones out there long ago we won't loose more today”  
“Is that what happened to your wife?” She asked softly  
“Amid a few others… Butch's father as well” He said with a sniff  
“You can give that up… I know your butches father, it's the only reason you would have let that stupid gang of his carry on and that you would leave his mother to carry on drinking up the entire drinks store dry when you banned old lady palmer from baking because it took up too much powdered eggs”  
The man's look said it all  
“You always were a nosey bitch” The man spat  
“Don't worry, I wont tell anyone. I don't care enough to waste my time” She sighed “I'm just here because I think I have a solution”  
“To fix what you started? Go ahead and humour me”  
For a moment Harkness truly thought she was just going to pull up her rifle and shot the man there was a coldness to her that he had only really seen when she started getting violent  
“The rebels are right, you need to open the vault” She said flatly  
“And what makes you think you know how better to protect this vault?”  
“You don't have enough people down here to keep the vault isolated. After the killing you don't have enough Genetic diversity”  
“We have enough for a few more generations. We can survive down here for at least another hundred years...”  
Lou had had enough she swung for the man hitting him in the chest there was a ooph as the wind left him and he staggered backwards. She hit him again and again each one pushing his down onto the ground it was only when she went to climb over him that Harkness stepped in, he grabbed her arms and she tried to fight him but he was much much stronger than her but he had miscalculated, he didn't realize the flailing legs weren't random until she kicked the old man hard before he got her out of reach. He had wrapped her arms round her and clamped his hands together she was pinned  
“She is trying to point out that even if you keep this place locked you will be screwed and all you are doing is delaying the inevitable” Harkness tried while holding onto the fighting women  
“Alright!” The man called from the floor holding his side “I'll step down, as overseer and let Amata take on the role… Just, don't let her go again” He begged  
The fighting slowed but he kept hold of her. The women could hold a grudge and he doubted she was calm enough just yet  
“Humanity isn't about who is impure or pure” He said softly “It's everything in between one way or another humanity will find a way in the world and right now you need to give these people a chance”  
He dared to let Lou go and she stood over the man the rifle discarded for a moment as she started to carefully breath in and out  
“I hope your right” The man said softly  
Finally Louie held out her hand to the man helping him to his feet the hatred was still there but she had made up her mind  
“He's right. Harkness knows more about this than you could ever guess” She sighed

They didn't stay to see Amata sworn in, they watched the overseer give over his power making sure he didn't lie to them and then before anyone could talk to her she and Harkness headed for the entrance  
“You're going without saying goodbye?” Someone called as she reached the door panel  
“I said goodbye a year ago when I fled for my life… How about you just see me as a ghost this time round” She called  
Two figures came through the door Butch and Amata  
“I wanted to talk to you… to tell you that you couldn't stay” She said softly  
“Well then I guess you don't have to” Louie sighed  
“Thank you for doing the right thing”  
“Which time? The time I left to save my life, sticking around and listening to you whine about something that is just not that much of a big deal in the grand scheme of things or for leaving again without making a scene?”  
“Don't be like that” She said softly  
“No… don't expect anything but this from someone who you are manipulating. I am leaving and I wont be coming back because I am officially done with this world and this life. I have a life out there... a good one. It's not perfect but fuck it's better than any day I spent in here”  
She pressed the door release and walked towards the door. Heavy boots followed them and Butch started to walk beside them for a second he hesitated when he got to the doorway. He held his breath as he went to step out the door  
“What's wrong Butch?” She asked giving him a playful kick  
“Nothing... nosebleed!” Butch declared  
“Please tell me he isn't coming with us” Harkness growled  
“Gods no!” Both declared  
The boy was still on the ledge when Harkness passed and gave him a shoulder barge making him stumble out the door. All three walked out and none of them looked back. They Just left Amata watching them head into the darkness  
“Goodbye” She said softly before closing the door. It would get opened for good... eventually  
  
The three of them stood outside and Butch took a moment to watch the world in wonder as the two of them just headed for the road  
“I'm starving… how about we just go to the Brass lantern for dinner?” She called to Harkness  
“I don't know those son's of atom cult members creep me out”  
“Well we're not going to the saloon and I ain't cooking...”  
Harkness sighed  
“You never cook. You want me to?” He sighed  
“Nope, way to much hassle… I'll run to the brass lantern, get us some food, you make sure we have some drink in the house… I think I need one” She sighed  
“Hey” Butch called from behind them  
The two stopped and turned to look at him  
“What?” she called with a shrug  
“What should I do?” He called thrusting his hands in his pockets  
“Whatever you want butch… You're free”  
For a moment the two of them watched each other and finally she sighed and rolled her eyes coming back up the slope and took his hand she turned it and looked down at his pip-boy it seemed she was downloading a few things into it  
“Go to this place, Rivet city” She said softly  
“What's there?” He asked  
“Not me” She replied “Just go there. Tell them you'll work for your rent and that your looking for Vera. Find her and tell her you know me, she'll help you. Stay there or don't, I don't care, just don't get killed” She sighed  
The boy nodded and looked at the screen for a moment or two  
“I'll make it there. It looks easy” He sniffed  
“Oh… and butch?” She said softly  
“Yeah Nosebleed?”  
“Don't call me that... When you get there keep an eye on a young boy called James Hargreaves. I think you two would hit it off”  
The boy snorted and looked over at Harkness still giving him a smug look  
“So you and me not gonna catch up then?” He called without looking away from Harkness  
“No Butch… we're not. Move on… I have” She sighed adding a few other things to his pip-boy  
“What if I said I didn't want to?” He said with a grin his hand reached down and grabbing her ass  
He was harmless but he always pushed when he shouldn't, she pulled the hand off her but she didn't need to hear the growl or look at him to knew that was a mistake  
“You heard her” Harkness growled  
“And what you gonna do about it old man?” he said pushing passed Lou  
“What I wanted to do since I met you” He simply said without moving  
“And what’s that? Huh?”  
There was no more warning, the fist was on it's way from the start and Lou was standing so close Butch's blood splattered her face, Harkness's fist connected with Butch's jaw in one swift motion as he twisted with the movement, Butch was there one moment the next he was on the floor with his own nose bleeding as he was laid out cold  
“I could of handled him you know!” Lou declared looking down at the unconscious Butch checking his jaw for brakes. When she was happy he wasn't hurt she just stood “He was just trying to push you”  
The two grabbed him by his feet and jacket and dumped him back through the little wooden door she pulled out ten or so caps and shoved them in his pocket before tearing a page from a scorched up book and writing a note on the page and laying it on his chest she stood and the two just walked away  
“He was successful... shouldn't be talking to any women like that”  
“Oh so I'm just a defenceless women?” She argued as she closed the door  
“No… it's nothing to do with that, he shouldn't be talking to anyone like that… why send him to rivet city anyway?...”  
The response was lost in the air as the two made there way back to the house.  
  
"Ok... why don't you like Lucy?" He asked  
The idea of drinking anything harder than beer was soon dismissed when she found out she had sold everything else so she had the only two beers in the house and the two had settled on the bed, she was laying with her head on her giant teddy bear as he sat the other end his fingers idly playing with the top of her bare foot. He didn't mind playing the part of slave for tonight if it meant she didn't wake up screaming again  
"Do we have to?" She sighed  
"Yeah" He simply said "I want to know why you hate her and why she is pushing your buttons"  
Lou changed feet and he started rubbing obediently  
She finished her beer and dropped the bottle without much care  
"I only just got to town when I met Lucy... I was desperate for a friend and had no idea about the world how it worked or who to trust so I'm sitting in the Saloon talking to Gob and Nova and she comes in and we start talking. We talk for hours about everything and I genuinely thought I had found some descent friends suddenly she starts telling me how much she misses her family and I ask her why she doesn't go see them and she tells me it's because they live far away and she can't travel but... If I took them a letter then she was sure her father would pay me for my troubles. I didn't have two caps to rub together so I agreed and damn near got myself killed. When I finally go back and tried to tell her what had happened she didn't care, didn't want to talk to me. she used me to get what she wanted just like she does to all the men"  
"I wouldn't think you would care if she used you, I mean as long as you got paid"  
"That's the kicker! Didn't get my money!"  
Harkness laughed loudly and Lou watched him with her own careful smile. The two sat for a moment before she sat up and looked him over  
"If you want to see her. I wouldn't hold it against you" She said softly  
"I'm alright... too young for me anyway" He said giving her a gentle back hand to the leg  
"Are we just torturing ourselves being together?" She asked softly  
"I was thinking that before..." He said with a sigh  
"Don't go" She said softly the beer lowering her defences "I can't handle you leaving right now... I know I'm being totally selfish and I don't know if we'll ever be able to be anything more than what we are now. because.... I don't know if I could ever give everything to you knowing I could die tomorrow... but... I can't handle the idea of you being with someone else or waking up to find you gone... I know I'm being a bitch I know but..."  
She cut herself off and took his hand  
"Right now I don't want to be anywhere else but here with you... So. how about we just cross that bridge when we come to it"  
She smiled and lay back down on the bed pulling his hand with her, he gave a dramatic sigh and gently moved with her laying down on the bed her fingers playing with his  
"You know... I can't get that kiss out of my head" She whispered  
Harkness grinned and kissed the soft skin behind her ear before settling down and closing his eyes  
"That was the point." He sighed


	11. Chapter 11

_"To anyone who can hear me: my name is Wernher. I come from a settlement to the north. I have information of great value to anyone willing to help me free my people. Please... help us. This message repeats."  
_

“I don't like it” Harkness sighed  
The two of them were in an abandoned tent way up in the northern area. It seemed to have been a stopping point for someone on there way north but that was a long time ago it seemed, They had been there for a couple of days and no one had turned up  
Louie had rigged an old radio to the same frequency as her pip-boy using nearby satellite towers to transmit a signal much further. They didn't know if it would make it to where she was going but they had to try. He was unable to come with her but there was a very real possibility that she was walking into a trap  
“If you can't get out I want to know.”  
“What use will it do for you to know I'm in trouble” She had argued  
“Because then I can come get you”  
He wasn't going to let it drop so she had agreed and had rigged it so the technology was connected to her pip-boy and so she could hear him in her ear  
“I won't always be able to answer” She said softly  
“But no one else can hear me talk to you?” He asked with a grin  
“No.... Only me. Don't go getting any idea” She warned  
The tent was a quiet nice little area. Bed, locker, light and even a hot plate they had set him up with everything he needed to spend the time here while she went into the Pitt. The two had been travelling together for so long now they knew each others habits off by heart, she seemed to be dealing with the world better since returning from the vault she seemed better and was even less argumentative... Slightly, and since that night they hadn't had any repercussions, Lucy had been told politely that her invitation wasn't going to be accepted and he had to admit he didn't feel the urge to move on in the world for now. He had more time on this world than her and he wasn't in a rush to spend it alone. Harkness hadn't returned to rivet city since that day and when she went to sell there he would take items to Tenpenny or up to Canterbury commons to trade and then wait for her at the house, the only thing he didn't like was how headlong she could be even after that very trait got her father killed she would react before thinking something through. It was how she ended up volunteering to be “captured” by slaves to help a city she didn't know. He was told he couldn't come with her and it had made him very nervous indeed. The two had managed to keep the intimacy out of the professional lives and it had helped with the frustration but they still had moments as neither of them didn't have a time where they were vulnerable and needed the other to be strong. For her it was the pressure to be the one to help, the one everyone looked to for answers and for Harkness it was self doubt of doing the right thing and staying away from Rivet city? did other know or suspect he wasn't human when he did or said things that his human side knew were odd. He had a habit of over thinking and stewing on it and then the same old worry of a witch hunt would spark in his mind  
“But I can let you know my opinion huh?” Harkness grinned  
She didn't turn round just carried on putting on the rags she had been given to change into. She started to unzip her trousers she had been wearing and kicked off the boots onto the dirt floor  
“You can... just don't get upset if I ignore you” She called  
She turned her back and pulled off the t-shirt and he quickly turned round keeping his eyes on the roof of the tent  
“you know most people would go marching in with an army not one girl with a hidden pistol”  
“And how many of them of that army would die?” She sighed  
“As many, if not less than the slavers” He said  
“Such a man's way of thinking” She declared “What do you think?”  
Harkness turned and raised an eyebrow. She was wrapped in rags designed to just hide the intimate bits and then pinned into place by leather strapping that sat round the waist and her neck... what did it say about her that she could literally look good in rags.... What did it say about him that he liked her in that outfit!  
“Still prefer.....”  
“...A dress I know” She sighed “But apparently this sessions fashion for slaves is rags and leather with steel ring accessories”  
He smiled softly went to stand in front of her  
“So... when do you have to go?” he asked  
“Not till first thing” She said pulling one of his t-shirts on and her trousers  
“So you staying here tonight?”  
She nodded and started playing with the items on the table.  
“You have plenty of food but don't go getting greedy, you have bullets and guns if something happens, pick your targets and shoot smart aim for the head”  
She seemed to have forgotten she wasn't wearing her battered old cap and for once he could see why she covered her eyes she was frowning her eyes troubled as she picked up the rifle and started checking the bolt action and the bullets  
“I do know how to compose myself in a gun a fight” He said amused  
“Yeah but if you get in trouble I can't come and help you” She said softly  
He walked over and gently took the rifle out her hands.  
“Don't you start worrying about me when I'm in here... I can look after myself”  
She walked over and slipped her arm round his waist and rested her head on his shoulder making him simply smile as she took in his warmth and scent  
“I like that you can” She said softly  
“Could look after you too” He whispered as he twirled his fingers through her hair  
Idly he ran his hand along her arm and turned on her pip-boy for a moment it was silent before the music started, just a simple instrumental. He took her hand in his and put his free hand round her waist the two of them moving to the music  
“I don't know how to dance” She whispered  
“Well I promise, I won't tell anyone that the great lone wanderer can't dance”  
She smiled and rubbed her cheek against his shoulder her lips resting against his neck. She pulled herself closer as they simply sifted from foot to foot slowly moving round at the same time.  
“Promise you will take what you need from the store and just... give the rest away if I don't come back” She whispered  
He bent his head so they were closer and hugged her tightly  
“Don't talk like that”  
“It's logical. If I can't do what I need to do, then give it away. Let everyone who needs it; have it.” She said softly  
“Promise” He said softly  
For a moment the two simply moved silently to the music and she tilted her head up taking the time to just look into his eyes as he ran his fingers through her hair. The fingers just gently pulling at the very tips making her tingle from her neck all through her body, she felt herself shiver from hips to head and it made him grin brightly. She watched him for a moment, she would do anything to make him smile like that all the time. She loved his smile and laugh  
“We should get an early night” She sighed  
He tilted his head further till his lips were nothing but a breath away and for a moment he hesitated as she brushed her lips against his before tilting her head to kiss him. It was a chased kiss but it spoke volumes it said what they didn't want to.  
“Just in case I never get to do that again”  
  
The cold morning bite into her skin and made Louie shiver as she got out of the tent in nothing but her slave clothes. She had slept beside Harkness till dawn and had left him sleeping. There was no point waking him up they had said everything that was needed to be said but she was careful not to let anything physical happen, yes there was a chance she would die in there but she was betting rather on her coming back and she didn't want to “Open that can of worms” as he had so eloquently put it  
The walk up to the train tunnel was so lonely and she was very worried about the fact she didn't have anything more than a .44 and a handful of bullets and no armour she knew she would have to leave that behind at the meeting point but she just could go out totally unarmed bar a little pistol hidden but she set off at her usual lazy jog. Luckily nothing bothered her but she could feel eyes on her as she moved along climbing the rocks until she found the train tunnel. She moved into the access door and walked over to Wernher  
“You ready? After this moment there ain't no going back” He said eyeing her up  
She clenched her jaw and nodded silently  
“Yeah” She eventually managed as she stood up on cart  
The two headed off in silence.  
Harkness came too and looked round the empty tent. It had taken him a while to get used to falling asleep with someone when they were out travelling only to find them gone when he woke up, the girl never seemed to sleep more than a few hours and a few time he had seen her up for days with no more than a couple of hours sleep. He, on the other hand needed sleep and certain foods to keep him working. He had to wonder how the hell she kept moving as she did. When there was no sign of her around in the area he took his time to warm some tinned food before clicking on the radio he didn't say anything and covered the mike he just wanted to listen for now  
“So we could of gone last night”  
“I told you I had things to do” Louie's voice was crisp and clear at least the distance didn't affect it  
“And I'm starting to think you don't understand exactly how important this is” A man called he was a little less easy to hear but then there was a close and steady wind noise  
“Look I get it but I can't just up and disappear, there are people counting on me”  
“Like that guy who was following you?”  
“My companion yeah, he's one of them” Her tone tensed slightly it was easier to read her emotions when he couldn't see her frustrating habit of hiding her eyes and he only had the tones in her voice to go on  
“Yeah well wouldn't know about that from your side of slavery” The man sneered  
“He ain't a slave. He can walk away any time he wants” She snapped  
“And why would I do that huh?” Harkness said softly into the mike "Money's far too good, shame about the company"  
“Why you smiling?” The man called  
“Yeah.... you're not meant to be showing emotions. You're a bitch remember?” He said softly into her ear  
“Just amused to think of him as my slave...”  
“There's nothing funny about slavery” The man growled  
“You see, just being yourself... You'll be pissing people off in no time” Harkness joked softly in her ear  
“No there's not, but I guess if that was how I would employ someone it wouldn't be him... far too high maintenance” She called to the guy “I would go for someone bigger, stronger, more menacing”  
The man said something but he couldn't hear it  
“Kick your ass” Harkness sighed  
“No, he's got no real strength... but 'cause he's real small we can get thought the tunnels and get to places no one else can. Plus he's real cheap”  
Again the man's comments were lost and he found himself straining to hear  
“Too much sometimes... Can be kinda whiny, I wish he would just shut up”  
“Hey baby girl, I'm average height for a guy... you're too damn tall for a girl” He sighed “I'll leave you be for now”  
He covered the microphone and leant back in the chair just listening to them working and the occasional comment. He was able to think about the two of them, it was a subject he had avoided for a few months but now while he was alone he had a chance. Maybe someone who was able to look after themselves was a good match for him, he would never strike out in anger at someone but some of his basic workings was to fight and to protect him and then others, with Pinkerton advancing his reflexes and fighting skill, when startled he could be violent. It was a reason for not returning to Rivet city he could have never live with someone or be with someone who he could hurt just because they woke him from recharge, on a selfish level Louie seemed to be just as messed up as him, a lot of the people didn't see her smart ass comments as what they were. Just plain smart ass comments it meant she didn't talk much about herself to people. He had always seemed to be the odd one out first at the institute with him being a more complicated synthetic meant he stood out from the others but he was never treated as equal by the humans and then at Rivet city it was easy now to see why but it meant that the two of them just 'got' each other.  
“So this is it huh?” The radio said  
Sound of movement and her walking through gravel and dirt. This was it, she was about to walk into somewhere that he couldn't follow.

****

“I have to get down to there but I can’t see any other way” She said with a sigh  
“Then get to the floor and see if there’s a way up” He tried  
The man was hunkered over the damn radio trying to listen to the women’s movements trying to hear if there was a way he could figure out what she was doing, his hand was resting in his hair as the other hang with a long forgotten Cigarette hanging from his fingers  
She had been in there for days but it was the first time they were able to speak freely. Louise had been thrown out into a yard to collect ingots and she wasn't going in till she had found all the ones that were out there. But it did mean she had time to talk freely  
“I've looked” She said through gritted teeth  
“Then either you’re not looking hard enough or there’s no reason to go in there” He replied with equal venom  
For a moment the women stood silently before giving a sigh  
“I need to make sure”  
For a moment Lou got down to sit on the floor and then rolled onto her stomach before slowly moving towards the edge  
“You’re stupid you know that” The voice said softly in her ear  
“I thought I was bold… maybe a little foolhardy? But stupid.... that's just harsh”  
Momentum caught her slowly at first before gravity took hold there was no turning back now there was a moment of weightlessness before she hit, hard she felt something in her foot snap and she crumpled on the floor she had hit something on landing and it meant she landed crooked on the floor.  
She crumpled to the floor and cursed  
“What?!” Harkness demanded  
“Hurt my ankle” She hissed as she tried to limp along. She couldn't stop; there was no knowing if someone or one of those things had seen her  
“How bad?” he demanded his voice tense  
“Just a little” She lied as she hopped holding onto the wall  
“So was it worth it?” Harkness demanded in her ear  
She moved as careful as possible keeping the old battered gun at her side as she hobbled along. She moved round the old gas silo to see an empty corner. Moving to the second and finding a few discarded items  
“Ha! yes” She said trying not to sound too smug and  
“Congratulations, you’re very smart”  
She laughed and took a moment to sit by the old ammo boxes and looked through them. A hand full of bullets maybe half filled mags, a knife and a couple of stimpaks  
“What did a twisted ankle buy you?” Harkness asked his tone sarcastic  
“Some ammo, couple of stims. It’s in case the guards get caught out here… enough to get back to the door not enough to give a slave hope”  
“But no steel ingots?”  
She forced herself to her feet and moved to the next cubby hole to find three ingots  
“These assholes are hiding them out here” She said with a frown. “Probably for entertainment or to feed the…..”  
For a heart beat Louie listened to the world feet ran along a tin roof, bare feet, this wasn't someone in boots. She looked up to see three Trogs jumping down from the roof she just had time to bring up the rifle; scrabbling backwards to get room she didn't hesitate and pulled out her rifle she almost put her barrel into the firsts mouth as it came down to bite her. Louie pulled the trigger without hesitation the second bullet slid through the Trogs skull and landed into the second. She just had time to roll the body off when the third landed on her the creature swiped at her pain shot through her chest as she held the rifle over its chest. The two struggled and she managed to get her feet under the Trog, with a heave of effort she was able to push it away far enough to bring the barrel round but it came at the cost of her sore ankle. With a shout of pain she locked out her knees and shot at the Trog three bullets landed into the creature as it slumped on the floor. For a moment Louie pulled herself up into a sitting position and took a moment to breath and keep control of her emotions  
“I hate this place” she said softly as she took a moment to look around  
“Doesn't sound like somewhere that could be fun” He sighed  
Harkness had taken to sitting at the desk with his feet up and the microphone on the table at his side it was about as comfortable as you could get  
“The worst thing is there is only one place left to look for these ingots” She sighed  
“If it's too much don't bother you already hurt your leg”  
she had spent three days out in the damn steel yard searching all over the place and no matter how much he tried to reason with her the stubborn women wouldn't listen  
“I won't have them send someone else out here to die when I can find them all” She said her only reply to being told it wasn't her fight  
“So where is the last place?” He asked softly  
“The tower. There seems to be a bunch of raiders up there... I guess management isn't too fussy if you don't want to come back in. Been avoiding it because it's a pretty hard fight”  
“Pretty hard for you means....”  
“Impossible for most. Maybe even you” She teased  
“Can you snipe them?” He tried without knowing the area there was no way he could come up with suggestions. But he knew her strengths and long distance marksman was one of them. Close range with a pistol defiantly wasn't  
“Not with the weapons I have” She sighed  
“Then what you gonna do?”  
For a moment he couldn't hear anything as she thought it through her mind working on something he could never truly figure without seeing her expression  
“I'm gonna have to go up” She said softly  
“Be careful” He warned  
“Oh come on John. I'm always careful”  
He stopped and frowned  
“You called me John”  
“I was led to believe that was your name. John William Harkness”  
He frowned and rested his head on his hand  
“You've never called me by my name” He laughed  
“Didn't think it was right.... Vera used to call you John”  
“Well she's ancient history.... You want to call me John?” He Frowned  
“You want me to?”  
Harkness rolled his eyes and sighed heavily  
“How about you call me what you want”  
“Now that's a plan.... You know this mean I'm winning, the first step to total submission is letting the little things slide”  
Her tone was facetious and made him growl softly as he listened to her struggle to get up back over the fence and then hiss as she landed back down again. He knew she would be using the ankle refusing to acknowledge the pain till her leg was near crippled  
“Where are you?” He demanded  
“Shhhh” She breathed  
His entire body tensed as he listened intently  
Louie was coming up on the first of the group. They had seen her moving around and had taken pot shots at her, but since she took care of a group of them in one of the old buildings they had kept to there tower. They had a pile of steel ingots up the top and were trying to entice the more desperate of the slaves to try and take them on.  
She was moving as quietly as possible keeping to the sides with a single old pistol as her only decent gun, she was trying to move up carefully. The first guy was on the stairs moving up and down the same few flights it was a case of getting the timing right. She watched him complete a circuit before taking a long breath and letting it out. She pulled the trigger and watched the man fall easily off the side of the railing and down to the floor. People moved round and shouted to each other but no one came down. No one was stupid enough to try that; they knew he was gone. She gently walked up the stairs twisting backwards to see the stairs behind and above her. The mike in her ear made a soft noise of someone moving as Harkness shifted. The noise masked something and she wanted to curse. Maybe it wasn't something. Maybe it was just in the mike. She moved up another step and something pinged on the metal  
Damn, a turret was trained on her, she ducked down to hear boots running along the metal flooring. She had no choice, she had to dig in and fight her way up to the level. Luckily she was able to wedge down onto the metal stairs so only a sliver was exposed to the raiders. She swung up and aimed at the first guy hitting him in the shoulder she forced him back giving her time to shot and kill the second guy hitting him in the neck, blood sprayed in an arch covering the first guy. He flinched more concerned about the blood. He didn't see the bullet as it slammed into his head. Quickly she shot for the sensors giving her enough time in the confusion to blow up the turrets.  
The gun fight was brief but it had made a lot of noise she was too concerned with getting past the raiders she didn't scan the world before standing  
White hot pain bite into her side and she nearly fell down the stairs  
“Son of a bitch.... bastard...” She hissed as she held her side  
“What?” Harkness demanded in her ear he was ready to get up and walk straight into the Pitt  
“Nothing” She said firmly  
“Your a shitty liar” He demanded  
She limped up into the platform and grabbed up the guns and items on the corpses and worked to check them over. Least they had better guns, she checked the magazine giving it a gentle tap on the side of the gun before reloading.The wound was a simple in and out and would hold for a little while. She slung the second gun to her back and took up a hunting rifle for now.  
There were three more on the stairs and each one gave a good fight but the noise had attracted a group of the Trog's she was trying to draw out the last of the men when she heard a hiss behind her she spun round to see the thing jump for her. Suddenly she was trying to run backwards up the stairs her legs were giving in she had no choice but to fire at the creature till it started to roll heavily down the stairs. She had killed it but it had taken a toll on her bullet count and the thing had clawed her leg up pretty badly. The last raider was simply watching the scene the two of them took a moment to watch each other  
The moment she reached for her gun Lou pulled the trigger the last bullet flew through the air and slammed into the women's eye she was dead before she slumped on the floor.  
The last few steps were torture as she sat down by the bundle of steel ingots on the top of the tower, she sat down on the metal floor and lent back against the safety fence as the smoke wafted next her her. She put the gun on the floor and looked about idly  
“I don’t know if I can do this” she said softly her voice braking exhaustion and pain were draining her resolve she had hardly eaten in days and the depression that came with malnutrition was starting to dig deeper into her mind  
At first Harkness didn't know if she was talking to him or to herself but he felt sympathy for her the girl, she was barely an adult and people were asking this of her and he suspected she just couldn't tell them no. Even when she insulted and growled at them she still did what they wanted her to do  
“You have the ingots you were meant to get, just go back” he tried again softly  
“It's too far.. I don't know if I could make it. I'm pretty messed up”  
“You’re not superhuman” Harkness said softly “Your just… human”  
For a moment or two he couldn't hear anything and his heart started to race.  
“That smart mouth starting to learn huh, never known you to be this quiet” he prompted  
“It’s kind of beautiful here” She said softly  
“I thought it was 'a stinking pit that needed burning off the face of the planet'?”  
“It is… but there is a beauty in its ugliness, the broken buildings against the orange light... kind of pretty” She sat for a moment letting the air flow across her cheek and arms “I'm gonna miss you... You know that?”  
Her tone was soft and full of regret and fear shot through him as he listened to her talk, she wanted to stay there... she wanted to sleep, her side was soaked in blood and her leg was throbbing from hip to toes the blood coming out of the cuts in a stead rhythm with her heart. She guessed it was probably time to just give it up  
“Just take the stimpaks and get moving again Lou” he said firmly  
“Should of just gone in gun blazing” She contemplated with a sad laugh  
“Lou… Please” Harkness said his voice low “Please don’t die there.”  
The radio went silent for a moment before he heard the scraping of a gun being reloaded  
“Tell me about your wife” She said softly  
“Weren't mine was she” He said softly “...Just get up and keep moving”  
“You said you're Harkness, that means she was yours”  
Thankfully it was just him sitting in that tent as a tear moved down his cheek but for who he couldn't tell  
“She was real intelligent and had this real dry, dark sense of humour that I really just got... she was stunning blonde hair, big brown eyes. A musician; she played the violin and sang like an angel. Couldn't cook to well but loved to try. Before the war we were thinking of having children she always wanted a daughter but He… I… got back from my tour damaged... you spend too much time out there you start to get hollow you don’t see it as death and destruction any more, you don’t see the horror that makes other turn away. So when you go back to your clean house and your patient wife you think it’s a trick…. You start to see people as targets and threat assessments. I started drinking heavily when taking my meds to boost the kick and the whole time she was there. Never once did she complain she just took the night terrors, and the drinking. Before my tour we were so happy I couldn't take how much I loved her some times it felt like I would loose my mind.”  
Louie breathed in the Jet dulling the pain and injected another stimpak into her leg could feel the chemicals working through her body gently she could feel the grateful numbness as the body rested  
“So she couldn't take it?” She asked softly  
Harkness lent back in the chair and looked at the fabric of the tent  
“No… she took it all, but the night terrors got worst and worst until one night I lashed out at her.”  
Harkness looked down at his hands. They weren't the hand that did it but the memory was so real he could even feel the crack of the bone under his knuckles  
“I broke her cheekbone and gave her a black eye…. She left when she got home from the hospital, she knew I didn't mean to. she didn't set the police on me, even when her family said she should. But we both knew it wasn't safe with me. I didn't want to hurt her. To tell the truth if she hadn't left I would of…”  
“And do you still love her?”  
For a moment he truly contemplated that question his eyes moved to Louie's cap sitting by the bed and he couldn't help but smile  
“Yes and no. I think he will always love her but it's not the same as being in love with her. I love her memory” He said softly  
Louie had fallen silent and he could hear the noises around her she took a deep breath and let it out even just thought the sound of her breathing in and out he could hear the shaking in her body but was it pain or was it nervousness  
“So... Do you love me?.....God damn, fu….” The communication was cut off and Harkness froze  
“Lou?” He almost whispered  
A Gun shot echoed through the mike and then static again

“Lou?” He tried again  
He stood and reached for his gun  
“So? Do you?” She said softly  
Relief swept thought him and he felt the tears renew as he sunk back into the chair.  
“What the hell was that?” He demanded softly  
“Answer me” She simply said  
“You first.... you know how I feel or you wouldn't have asked me” He wasn't letting her push him with this one. He would tell her, but on his own terms unlike most things she wasn't going to manipulate the situation to her liking  
“I like having you around” She said softly  
“So I am just a friend huh?” He asked rubbing his eyes and wiping his tears away getting control of himself  
“Yes... And so much more. Your right we have never been just friends not since the first time you threatened to throw me in the river. And pulled a gun on me I've... wanted you” She finally said “I think your the only one who can understand me. The only one in this whole stinking wasteland who knows what it's like to be pushed about and then have someone hold out there hand and demand you save them. And I think your the only one who won't leave me I lost everything this year but you're the one thing that I haven't mucked up. Yet and I'm scared I will... But I think I love you”  
Harkness listened to the words echo round the tiny tent and frowned his body was twitching with anxiety and something else,  happiness? he wanted to smile but he still couldn't hear her moving and this concerned him  
“Are you moving towards the door?”  
Lou sat watching the sun with the blood pooling beside her. Slice in the side from a Trog was a nasty thing and trying to keep from having it get infected in this hell hole was next to impossible. She held her side and tried to keep from her emotion getting the better of her. She was out of medication she had stopped the bleeding in her leg and the gunshot but it had cost her all her stimpacks  
“Wont be long now” She said softly  
“Don't you dare stop fighting now. You've always been a stubborn bitch, why are you stopping now? Don't you dare leave me in some stinking tent. And don't you dare tell me that then tell me goodbye!... I love you Lou and if you die I will never forgive you” His tone was firm but it was starting to shake, he was getting desperate  
The words rang in her ear and she smiled softly gripping her side, she forced herself steadily to her feet and shakily took a step, pain shot through her side as she twisted the wound white hot, bad enough for her leg to try and buckle under her but she kept walking her eyes focused on the stairs and then the roof slowly picking points to make it to before picking the next point till she was looking at the door. She stepped over the dead Trogs and gripped the railing to the stairs  
“You see. I was hoping that I could bag myself a cold blooded, hard nosed, asshole of a guy. That's what everyone said you were.... “Don't piss of Harkness, he's more likely to throw you through the nearest porthole than listen to you” Thats what everyone told me and now look at you... I think I made you soft when I made you hard” She said trying to keep her tone flat. He had a damn good ear for pitch change in her voice he would be able to hear the strain of trying to move as she clutched her side. He would know she was badly injured  
“If you wanted that guy then you shouldn't have gone poking your nose where it wasn't wanted... your always the busy body” He said softly  
She could almost see the half smile on his face as she grabbed for the fencing, the blood from her hand starting to slowly seep onto the metal leaving a perfect red ghostly hand print on the metal.... great more steps  
“If you want... We could run you back to Pinkerton have him crack your skull open again. Maybe this time I can pick your personality maybe get a vibrant mode installed” She sighed  
“And what is wrong with my personality?.. It's obnoxious, sarcastic, antisocial and rude. I'm pretty much you with a dick” He declared  
“Yeah but I do it with a certain charm that you never mastered”  
For a moment she thought about carrying on their little game of “Who's the biggest asshole” But her hand reached the door handle and she was sagging against the wall actually torn between saving herself and sitting here talking to him. She didn't want to ignore him anymore she wanted to curl up with him and have him tell her that everything was going to be alright  
“If you think anything you do is charming then.... Your right” He said in her ear his voice seemed tense but she guessed trying to push him on why wasn't the best plan  
“You see… You're meant to be an asshole, then you say shit like that” She sighed. “I'm going in now.... Speak to you soon”  
For a second he didn't reply and she worried she had pushed the smart ass comments too far this time  
“Speak to you soon.” He said softly

Harkness turned away from the radio his eyes not moving away from the people who had silently filed into the tent. He knew staying this close to the Enclave was dangerous. They must have seen him come and go from the tent and decided to have a look at what this all was. Hopefully they would deemed him not a threat and would leave him alone if not heavily “Taxed”  
“Who are you talking to?” A man demanded  
He was an older man but the only real show of age was his short cropped white hair. He looked down at Harkness who was simply sitting with his hands on his head  
“Just someone who is working for me” He said softly  
“Doing what?”  
“None of your business” Harkness growled  
“Well you see someone slinking about in this god forsaken scrap of waste is completely our problem because no one comes up here unless they truly are trying to make something our business”  
“It's to do with the slavers in the Pitt.... that's all you need to know”  
The two of them were watching each other as the man walked over to the bed where he had thrown some items and he stiffened to see the man's eyes fall on Lou's hat that sat by the table  
“I have seen that hat before... it's very distinctive when you take in consideration and staining that runs along the bottom of the lip, red hair dye I believe... The last time I saw that red colour it was worn by a Petulant child who killed the ten men I took into that memorial”  
“Well that must of been the girl I took it off of” He said with a swallow  
“Sir.... I'm getting some odd reading's off this one”  
It would seem one of the soldiers had been scanning him while they had been talking. The man walked over to the older gentleman and talked softly in his ear one minutes Harkness was sitting stiffly in the chair and next four men in power armour were grabbing for him. He dove for his gun that was next to him but there wasn't time or room for him to get it into position. The gun instead was pinned to him and he was shoved backwards over the chair they landed with a heavy thump and he was pinned by his own damn gun  
“Get off me!” He screamed  
“Colonel Autumn sir.” The man called  
fingers forced Harkness' eye wide open and a blinding bright light was pointed into the iris he felt his body take over protocols were set in place to save his vision and this iris shifted shape to accompany the vast amount of light so he could still see perfectly  
“I had heard they had been working on this kind of technology but... to see it working and in the wasteland I bet it has all sorts of commonwealth tech in it” The light was moved over time after time as he watched the iris shift from shape to shape.  
“I am not a fucking toy! Get off me!” Harkness snarled. He pushed his back to the floor and heaved. He easily pushed the man off him muscle and bones had braking points he was far stronger then ten men. He unwrapped himself from the chair and went to stand bringing up his plasma rifle aiming it at the man in charge. Something dropped to the floor and for a moment he frowned. He recognised the modified pulse granade as it went off and he fell to the floor  
“Take the robot, leave the rest” Autumn called.  
He looked at the hat on the side and smiled the entire place was covered in dust.... everything in the damn wasteland was, he took his gloved finger and wrote next to the hat  
“Thanks for the tech”

There wasn't any more chances for Lou to talk to Harkness again. One last Trog tried to finish her off but she survived and when she dragged herself back into the area the man was going to make a joke about how she had taken so damn long to get ten ingots. When she pulled our ten times that he was astonished. Next thing she knew he was giving her armour and guns and told her to head to see some women about a fight. She was healed up and made good as new before being thrown into a fighting pit, at least she knew what to do here. Kill before your killed and she did just that fight after fight she was pulled out given a dose of Radaway and healed up. At night she didn't sleep just replayed the close calls the landed hits causing her to start awake screaming or reaching for the comforting man who wasn't there. In the morning she would be fed dressed in armour shoved her gun before she was thrown right back out there again. She had no idea how long she fought for, her mind shut down she didn't know anything but killing and death and the cheers of amusement from the crowd. she didn't even see the sky again till it seemed she was declared champion. It would seem they had no more blood for her to spill or lives to end. She walked into the little house to look blankly at her contact and for a moment the women seemed concerned. The women gave her broth and offered her cleaner rags and water to bathe. The kindness kicked Louie's brain back into life but there was no real awakening she simply looked into the little circle of glass the women had given her to clean herself and she saw a sunken cheeked, haunted, filthy girl looking back at her. It seemed she had been fighting for days and it had taken it's toll  
“You must go to the top of the tower talk to the man in charge he has the cure” She was told. She didn't argue she simply nodded and obeyed

****

Lou looked down at the time baby in the cot and her heart thumped heavily this forced her mind to reawaken just a spark at first but now as she looked down at the little  child her mind was racing  
“I know you are here because of the rebels” A voice said next to her “But I was hoping if you saw what they truly wished to take away from me you wouldn't”  
She wanted to talk to Harkness, ask him what she should do. Take a babe from the arms of their parents and save hundreds of lives at the cost of this one. Or turn her back on the slaves. Let them die knowing that the future was better off for everyone. Wasn't that what she was doing this for? Wasn't that what she said to herself every time the shadows got a little bigger and darker round her  
“ _Your killing for a future. Your taking for a future, people starve now but you will build them a future”  
_ The world had taken her mother away from her and the Enclave had taken her father. Why should it be different for this little one?.... Because she knew exactly what it was like to be alone in this world. She knew how hard it was without a connection to your past and things that made you who you were, without those things you changed and turned into something and you weren't always proud of what you saw in the mirror  
“So? What do you plan to do?” The man asked standing beside her  
“You swear your doing this for everyone. For the greater good of the slaves...”  
“With the cure we can make from my daughter there will be no need for slaves. There will be cures to help everyone. It will take longer because we would never hurt our daughter....”  
“But there is a future” Lou whispered  
“Yes”  
“For everyone. I won't forget and if I find you haven't done what you swear to me today and now. I will come back and I will kill you and your wife…. I will kill you all and raise your daughter to make the future better for everyone” She said softly her voice flat  
“I swear to you… I swear this is for everyone, for the future of this world”  
“I won't take your child for now. I won't force her to know the pain and misery of being alone” she said softly pulling the blanket up to tuck her in trying to ignore the scarring on her hands and knuckles

****

She didn't wait for the reply she didn't wait for anything she simply turned and walked away. There was no speed in her step just the slow trudge of someone who knew she had done right in the long run. So why did she feel so crappy about it?  
The rioting took place all around her, people fighting tooth and claw the slaves outnumbered the guards on the ground and they were swarming the raiders killing them ripping them apart around her but she did nothing to stop or help it. The slaves would see her as a threat now and she didn't really want to help the raiders that were getting what they deserved. In her opinion anyway  
“You!” Someone shouted  
A group of slaves came running over to point knife and guns at her  
“You were meant to be one of us. Why aren't you helping?” The man demanded  
“Because this isn't my fight.” She sighed  
“You think you can just walk out of here? You're a slave. You are going to fight in here, or you'll die in here” The man demanded pointing his gun at her  
“I don't want to kill you guys. Just let me go” She was almost begging  
The man shook his head and went to squeeze the trigger. Combat shotguns were always an issue when close up. For them to be truly effective you had to shoot something close up but that also meant you had to be close enough for them to grab you. She simply grabbed the barrel and shoved it up into the air. The shot went wild as she brought her own Semi-automatic rifle up pulling the trigger she emptied three shots into the man's chest and yanked the gun out of his hand. With a quick motion she threw up the gun in the air and caught it further down the next person to try and grab her was a women and she took the muzzle in the chest, her heart exploded out of the women's back and she slumped to the floor nothing but blood, guts and bone it was enough, the last two ran for it figuring there were easier targets to go for. Lou simply shouldered the shotgun stepped over the corpses and headed for the railway tunnel

****

No one was guarding the gates. The slaves could simply walk out the damn gate some had and were fighting off the dogs but she simply kept walking over the bridge to the meeting place. Wernher was sitting almost where she had left him he was standing pacing and then coming to sit back on the rock. It was a nervous thing to do and she had to wonder why exactly he was so nervous  
“You got it” He demanded as she got closer  
“It's a child” Lou said frowning “Did you know it was?”  
The man rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest  
“Of course I fucking knew!. So what? You stashed the brat somewhere... probably best till you knew we had a chance of getting out of here... Lets just hope you ain't left it where the dogs can get”  
For a moment she stopped his harsh words made her realise she had just made a good choice. This man would treat the baby as nothing more than an item to him; a way of getting what he wanted.  
“I didn't do it. I left her with her family” She said frowning  
“You what?! Your a stupid bitch! I knew I shouldn't of trusted in you” He spat  
“Screw you... I'm leaving” She growled trying to walk past him  
For a moment Werhner grabbed her shoulder and glared down at the Louise. She was a good foot shorter than him his fingers digging into her shoulder  
For a second the two watched each other before she grabbed for her gun. He grabbed for a knife to stick in her gut but she brought round her gun first. The two of them wrestled and she felt her legs get hooked out from under her she grabbed firmly onto his shirt and pulled him down with her, fingers gripped the handle of her gun and she felt the trigger she pulled it the gun exploded and for a moment there was no pain. Time slowed and the hand slipped off the gun  
“Don't... don't leave me here” He begged  
She pulled herself back up to see the blood seeping through his gut. Inevitable infection, days of pain and hurt if he survived at all but with the filth and crud that was around here she doubted he would  
“Please” The man begged  
Louise put the barrel to the man's forehead and he became frantic trying to fight her away  
“I'm just doing what you told me to” She said flatly  
She aimed back up and pulled the trigger. Blood sprayed out the the back of his head with such vigour it came back and splashed up her arm and onto her face hot and fresh. The man lay still as Louie stood  
“Harkness... you there?” She called. She wanted to hear a voice she needed to hear him, tell her everything was all right and that she wasn't the damn monster she felt like  
The radio was silent  
“John?” She called a little louder  
Static answered  
“ _He's just got the radio off. It's been days since you transmitted.... he's probably turned it off to save batteries”  
_ She quickened her pace and headed for the tent


	12. Chapter 12

_" _Hey everybody, this is Three Dog, your friendly neighbourhood disc jockey. What's a disc? Hell if I know, but I'm gonna keep talking anyway!...._ Seems little miss 101 has been spotted returning to our little slice of the world. There are reports that she went to save a group of slaves from their raider masters, some say she went to blow the place to hell raiders and all. One report says she went to kidnap a baby! I really doubt that... Whatever you did 101 we're glad your back. But what happened to that man that had been spotted tailing you? has our very own lone wanderer taken back to flying solo? Whatever is going on glad your back one oh one... now for some music!"_

The group of paladins and scribes had reached an impasse as they looked at each other from round their table  
“Well... Seems were all out of ideas” Elder Lyons sighed  
“We could ask the lone wanderer”  
"She hasn't been seen in weeks. How would we find her?"  
The door was flung open causing the paladins to leap to their feet levelling their guns at the door. The cloud of dust dissipated enough for their eyes to make out the young women holding a gun to the room. It was odd to see a single person calmly holding a gun to everyone in the room and not even blinking at the barrels pointed back at her  
“Where the hell is he?!” She demanded  
“Wanderer....” Lyons asked softly “Who?”  
No one had seen her since she walked away from the group she had rescued. She had simply talked briefly to the group at the gates before walking away in her own world. Later they found that she had returned and broken into the Jefferson memorial and removed her fathers body but at the time she had simply walked into the distance  
“Harkness, he was the Ex chief of security at Rivet City. He was working with me” She said keeping her voice calm,  
She had settled on pointing her gun at him as she talked through the sights of the gun  
“Why would we have your companion?”  
Fear suddenly gripped her stomach she really hadn't thought this part through. If they didn't have him then the technology hungry group would want him but this could be bluff... try to make her believe they didn't know. She guessed Harkness had more tech in him than they would know what to do with and they would rip him apart to find out how to use it  
“Do you have him or not?” She demanded  
The paladins all tensed as she took a single step towards their leader the sound of metal armour being pushed with rifle butts  
“Again.... why would we have him? Harkness was last heard to have disappear from Rivet City after the death of the gentleman from the commonwealth”  
Lou nodded gently and looked over the men staring at him with blank eyes  
“Swear to me on your daughter's life you haven't got him” She hissed softly  
Elder Lyons gently walked over and pushed the barrel of her gun down to point at the floor  
“Come along my girl. I think we need to talk”  
She followed unsure what else she was meant to do as the two of them moved into a private room. It was a simple room but it had chairs and a desk and more importantly was empty of people. The old man sat down and she simply stood kicking at the floor  
“So why do you think we have your companion?” He asked softly  
“I came back to the tent we were meant to meet at and he was gone. There was a note in the dust, it said “Thanks for the Tech” You were the best bet”  
The old man frowned and watched the women  
“I assure you my dear if we had your possessions we wouldn't have left a note. Did you have a piece of Technology in your possession that could have been useful?” He said with a raised eyebrow  
“He.... He may have found something” she had bit down on correcting the man from calling Harkness property and was right too. The game would have been up if she hadn't shut her mouth and let the person talk… Maybe she was maturing. Or maybe months of being told to shut up by Harkness was paying off  
Elder Lyons nodded and looked through some scraps of paper on his desk  
“You should know we are not the only group that is looking for technology. The outcasts. Who we know you helped... but from what I heard you are the only person who came out of that little adventure any richer... They are aggressive in accruing technology, and of course the Enclave are always looking for something to help them...”  
Lou sighed heavily and threw her rifle over her back  
“Then I'll leave you to it then. I'm sure your busy and I have other people to threaten... sorry for pulling a gun on you.” She said with a frown, her tone suggested was getting a little lost in her own anger but was trying to hold onto it  
“Maybe....”  
Lou stopped at the single word  
“Maybe, we should look at a solution that is beneficial to both of us....where were you camping?”  
“Far north, Near the old satellites”  
“Dangerous for many reasons.... The creatures out there are more aggressive”  
“Not a problem... covered the area in deathclaw urine” She said with a shrug  
“How did you get that?” He asked surprised  
“How do you think?... kill a deathclaw and syphoned the bladder”  
For a moment the old man was stunned he had assumed her pulling a gun on a room full of armoured and armed people was fool hardy and for show but something in him truly thought that maybe she would have walked out of that room. Maybe not the citadel but defiantly the room  
“Well you will be pleased to know that there is no brotherhood patrols or Outcasts in that area...”  
Lou's expression was deadpan for a moment before her lip curled in a sneer  
“Enclave” She growled  
“We have word that the Geck we need is in Vault Eight Seven. But we also know that the Enclave are looking into that area. They know you have been through every other Vault. They know that is the last one for you to go and check”  
“But it can't be done. Vault eighty seven is unpassable, radiation it's far to high”  
“Impassable” He corrected  
“Whatever! The radiation makes it a hot zone, no one's getting through except Ghouls and mutants”  
“There has to be a way through”  
“None. I've tried”  
For a moment the two watched each other before Elder Lyons sighed  
“How about we talk frankly”  
“I already was” She said with a huff  
“If you can find a way into Vault Eight Seven and find a way to the GECK then the Enclave will strike. They will take you to their base and you can find your companion and the Technology he had with him  
“I don't care about the damn tech.... I just want him back”  
The emotion came too much too quickly, she let her feelings be known a risky thing to let happen  
“Falling for your staff is a disastrous thing to happen it never ends well for anyone” He warned  
“What do you know about it?” She sighed  
“I have been in this world for a long long time and I have seen things that you would never believe. I have seen people love and loose almost in a single heartbeat.”  
For a moment Lou played with her rifle as she thought about his words. She removed the power cell and ran a nail along the connector before replacing it. For a moment her finger gently traced the gun as of it was her love himself. Suddenly she gave the gun a determined slap and threw it hard over her shoulder  
“So if I go to the vault then I can get closer to them” She called, pulling her hat down the brim hiding her eyes  
Elder Lyons sighed softly as she left the room  
“How can someone be so single minded?” He said softly  
  
The run out to the vault was quiet and she longed for someone to talk to as she ran along the river from the citadel, no need to stop in at megaton she headed along the path past springvale and the vault entrance and up through the rocks. As she moved out into the wasteland there was more room to breath to see what was happening. Here she slowed to take in the world breathing deep, to stretch her arms up behind her head keeping the cap over her eyes to stop the sun from hurting them. It was nice out here... but she missed having someone with her. She missed him, the Pitt was bad enough but all through it she knew she would see him again and now she was facing her worst fear, coming back to find him gone. He was taken from her and now she was impatient knowing the longer it took the longer she would be away from him and there was more chance he would be gone by the time she found him  
The wind blew and she nodded  
“Alright. I'm going” She sighed  
She strapped the rifle tight to her back and started to jog through the dust and dirt. Due to the high amount of super mutant and psychotic Rad-scorpions people and settlements were rare in the west of the wasteland which added to the feeling of isolation as she ran along at her usual slow energy saving manner, she clicked on the radio and listened to Three dog talking. It seemed someone had spotted her leaving and returning and the news had made it's way to the man in the Studio  
“Why am I so god damn interesting huh?” She muttered “Three dog needs to get a life”  
She came to a ridge where she was able to survey the land as it tumbled down into what must have been an ancient riverbed. She watched the compass in the bottom of her sights spin from south to north and nothing was detected.... no as she turned her head back three glitches appeared on her vision. Three big glitches, there was talk that super mutants were seen moving round this area but it made no sense to her as no one had seen them moving through the wastes to their biggest concentration which was arguably the ruins but then there was lots of route that would take you out the way and through super mutant hot spots she had herself stumbled onto a few. She ran over to a pile of rocks and rested her rifle on the natural barricades and sighted up, with a deep breath and let it out slowly  
With three squeezes of the trigger two out of three lay dead and one was seriously injured. Damn it was a good thing she didn't shoot anyone in the citadel as a bargaining tactic she would of blown a limb off. Harkness had been fiddling with the damn rifle increasing it's power further. She guessed as a surprise when she returned  
She quickly dispatched the last one left and stood, jumping over the rock and jogging over to the bodies  
“You killed them!” Someone called  
For a moment Louie stopped and looked round the forth life sign on just showed up she must not of seen it in with the mutants  
“That's what I do” She said with a frown  
A little child walked out from his hiding place and looked up at Lou with a careful frown  
“Wow you're big Mungo?”  
“Well your kind of a small kid” She said with a grin. It was nice to find a kid who was still a child all the children she had met were so formal so ... adult like it was nice to find a kid  
“What you doing round here?” He asked suspiciously  
“Trying to get into the vault” She said looking around her  
“Why do you want to go there... it's full of those big monsters”  
For a second Lou stopped and looked at the little boy  
“You been in there?” She asked with a frown  
“Only in the lower bits.... the rest is too radiated”  
Lou found some hope and smiled again  
“Well how about you show me how you get in” For a moment the boy frowned and shook his head “I don't think that's a good idea”  
With that the little boy turned on his heels and ran into the cave entrance that was a few yards away. Without thinking Lou took off after him as they both went into the caves  
“Hey! Wait up!” She called  
  
Silently Louie slipped through the narrow cave trying to keep quiet she had to jump through hoops to get the kids to open the back gate when all she wanted to do was threaten them with her gun... something told her this wasn't going to be the best idea so she had done what they wanted and finally managed. Now she had a vault full of super mutants to get rid of. It was slow going as she had to get rid of each one as quietly as possible and then wait to see if the fighting had attracted any more. So far only two had to be taken out at once and they were in an awkward position, both were on the top of a platform and so she couldn't get a decent shoot without exposing her position. It was a hard fight and left her with a couple of holes in her shoulder that she managed to patch up there and then with some stimpacks and padding to stop the ache when she shot  
The last few fell relatively easily as luckily they were separated but then she simply had the entire Vault to clear out. Thankfully it seemed that no one was interested in running towards the shooting so she simply pushed along slipping through the quiet corridors listening for super mutants to come within shouting distance  
“Hello?” someone was calling through the halls  
She didn't talk at first she simply slipped along the wall keeping her eyes and more importantly her gun levelled in front of her  
“I don't mean you any harm.... Please help me”  
Lou looked into the window and stopped. First reaction was to bring up her rifle, looking at the super mutant through the scopes her hand on the trigger but she knew that was tempered glass, knew the plasma would simply dissipate harmlessly, there was something different.  
Her mind flashed to when her and Harkness had saw one of the super mutants hiding from a group of brotherhood he had been walking along a ridge and they had been walking down the bottom the mutant had hid standing between a clump of tree's watching them walk past before turning the heading the other way. He had been worried to come near the brotherhood it had intrigued her enough to make her catch him up figuring if it was just a normal brainless super mutant than they would be able to put him down easily enough. He had talked to them told them that he was different and that he remembered being a human. Harkness had taken to him quickly and had tried to give him supplies which he had refused with a polite wave of his hand, he had just simply thanked them for not killing him before moving on  
“Your not like the others are you?” She asked with a frown  
“Please press the button” He said patiently  
She jumped a little and leant over to hold the button down  
“You're not like the other Super mutants are you?” She asked softly  
“I do not like the term Super mutant. Please I prefer to be referred to as a Meta human”  
“I guess in a way that has answered my question” She said with a smile  
It seemed he was called Fawkes and he was a mutant of the mutants. Intelligent and friendly towards humans he hated his kind for what they did to him and he wanted to get revenge the only way he could and that was from siding with humans. He wanted a chance to help stop his kind and hopefully make the world better they talked for a while before she finally helped him convinced that he was not just a mutant trying to trick her. For one she didn't think the others would have the idea on how to do that. But when she saw him fight against his own kind there was an almost fiery hatred against the others he came across. He knew about the GECK and he was more than happy to push towards getting it for her something that did make her a little nervous as it meant him simply walking into the highly irradiated area where she couldn't follow and trust he would bring it back without any problem but he did and she thanked him.  
She offered him a place beside her something told her she would need someone who fought like Fawkes but he refused. She felt her heart sink a little but then she remembered the plan. No she shouldn't have him follow her.... with a heavy heart she held her hand out to him and smiled  
“Thank you very much Fawkes” She said  
He took her hand it being completely swallowed up to past her wrist his fingers just holding her from fear of hurting her, he gave a very formal bow and let her hand drop  
“You are welcome and thank you for giving me my freedom”  
The two parted and Lou turned for the way back. She didn't run she simply walked her rifle slung to her back her helmet hooked on her side as she walked through the vault. There was no need to run there was no need to do anything but walk along the GECK tucked away in it's original metal case in her hand.  
She came up to the back entrance where she walked on. They weren't hiding too well even now she could see there life signs on her display and she could hear them moving as she stepped through the door  
Something dropped down in front of her and she resisted the urge to back up and draw her weapon, instead she braced herself. There was a blink from the little device and it went off, for a moment she was blind and she didn't realise she had landed on her ass till she was looking up at three men looking down at her  
This wasn't worth it. She reached for her gun and found she couldn't move she just lay there staring at the men  
“You sure she isn't hurt?” A familiar voice called  
Colonel autumn stepped into her view and she wanted and scream she wanted to rip his damn head off!  
“Let's get her back.”

****

The bath had been cool and refreshing washing off the hot and stickiness that came from the heat of the summer. He stepped out the damp room and walked along the corridor. No need to cover up the air felt cool on his naked skin as he stepped into the bedroom  
The room was white and clean something that was never seen in the wasteland. The dust got everywhere but the window was blowing cool air through the room and not fine dust. The figure laying on the bed was wearing nothing but shorts. They were tight on her buttocks as the fabric sat along the flawless flesh of her thighs. Her legs were up in the air her ankles crossed, her t-shirt was on the floor as she gently put a cloth on her shoulder and squeezed, water running along her back and pooled in the base of her back as if curved up. The bed springs groaned gently as he climbed on the bed but she didn't turn round. He lent down and sucked up the water it was cold and tasted slightly salted from the sweat on her skin. She laughed softly and rested her front of the bed as he licked his way along the trail of water.  
“It's so hot” She breathed  
He nodded and kissed her neck and shoulder, she tilted her head as one of his hands held her jaw, his thumb slipped into her mouth. Her teeth gently biting his thumb tip before sucking it. His other hand gripped her shorts and she helped eagerly.  
He only had time to feel the warmth and eagerness of her against his flesh before she rolled him over with enough force to make the bed rock, she knelt between his legs and he just watched her with hungry eyes. She smiled and lent down the warm skin of her breasts against his thigh and hips. Her lips connected with his chest and he ran his fingers through her hair, she kissed and ran her tongue along his chest and stomach her nails ran along his side making him shift. She kissed his stomach and ran a long trail down his stomach to his hips. Harkness grabbed the headboard the ancient wood creaking under his fingers, he tried to keep calm the wood denting as he gripped hard. His back arched, his eyes rolling back in his head the feeling of pleasure building up instantly he tried to think about anything else tried to keep calm  
“Fuck!.... Marry me!” He called  
She stopped and moved up to straddle him he couldn't wait, he grabbed her waist and without hesitation she slipped him easily into her with practised ease his hands holding onto her hips  
“Wedding proposal to tell the grand kids about huh?” She laughed her hands running down his chest her eyes closed she bit her bottom lip as her hips rocked rhythmically  
  
The female scientist couldn't help but squirm as she watched the images flashing on the screen he certainly had an imagination. The women tried to look away but she found herself looking at the android on the lab table  
“It's certainly having some intense imaging.... probably part of the work someone did when they opened it first time” She said clearing her throat  
“I don't know....” He tried to point something to the side of the main attraction “If you look at the room. No decay, no mould, this is pre-war housing”  
“Maybe a mixed memory?” She asked trying to keep from watching the movement in front of her  
“The man Harkness was a pre-war veteran.... but this is A3-21's mind.... with them both active the android shouldn't have any images other then maybe replaying images to have them processed by the memory functions for analysis.”  
The women stopped and looked over at the Android again and frowned her eyes looking down from the bare toned shoulders down to his waist  
“So this is a dream?” She asked softly  
“Yes... But, Androids can't dream”  
  
Harkness felt his entire body trembling as he lay in on the bed her head resting on his chest he gently stroked her hair as she slowly played her fingers along his stomach  
“What was that about?” She asked softly  
“I saw you on the bed, couldn't help myself” He sighed with a smile  
“Maybe I should start covering up.... if that's how you react” She laughed  
“You never did answer me” He said softly  
For a moment she lay still before turning her face to his. She shifted her position till she was laying pressed against him  
“Are you sure? You weren't so keen before”  
“Just tell me Louie” He laughed his arm pulling her into him  
“Well... yes. I will”  
He gently held her chin on his fingertips and he kissed her softly  
“I think I need a bath” She sighed getting up  
She knelt on the bed and looked down at him as he looked her up and down  
“How about I join you?”  
She laughed loudly and walked for the door but stopped to turn back her body rounding slowly to tease him   
“Well.... come on”  
  
The scientist looked round as the dream faded and the screen went blank where he would wake up the computer simply kept working through the files bringing up a file a recording of a card game involving some of the rivet city guards information flashed up. Micro expressions voice stresses analysed she guessed sometimes Harkness had made decisions by sleeping on it never knowing the reason he always woke with his decision was because the android had analysed the data. The women looked at the item laying on the table again  
“Do you think she really slept with it?” He asked with a frown  
“Well... I know this is an accurate representation of her” The women sighed "It has a perfect memory recall"  
The male scientist let out a low whistle and the female scientist scowled at him  
“But it doesn't explain the situation... This is made up”  
For a moment the two of them sat in silence watching the android lay perfectly still it was a little odd to see something looking so realistic and lifelike lay so perfectly still. He looked dead... but could an inanimate object be classed as dead  
“Maybe he is evolving?”


	13. Chapter 13

" _Let me ask 'ya something children, are you hungry for some two-hundred year old Salisbury steak? Or are you hungry for some news? I'm guessing news, here 'ya go._ _Yikes. Looks like the Lone Wanderer has wandered herself right into the Enclave's sinister clutches. My deep cover super secret agents tell me a Vertibird recently flew out of the mountains to the west, and the Vault kid was an unwilling passenger. I mean, how willing can you be when you're encased in a block of ice? Crazy, I know, but these are crazy times we live in... Anyway, the Vertibird was headed northwest into the mountains, where I have it on good authority the Enclave has their big underground clubhouse. Good luck, Wanderer. You'll need it.Until next time, this is Three Dog, OWWWWWWWWW! And you're listening to Galaxy News Radio! Bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts_ "

The room was silent as she gently scanned each face and then the room. The remaining scientist was standing next to an exam table and for a moment she didn't recognise the subject laying there, she gently moved into the room and closed the door behind her without turning round holding her gun steadily at the figure in front of her. Harkness just lay on the table, he was laying so perfectly still with a white sheet covering his dignity  
“What have you done to him?” She asked firmly  
“Just scans” The voice said through the orange visor  
“Reactive him! Now!” She demanded  
“It was damaged in transit from the previous location. The EM pulse damaged it's processor we have fixed the issue but we don't know if we can wake it”  
“Him!” She snapped “You don't know if you can wake him... and if that's truly the case then you have killed him and I will murder the lot of you” She snarled  
The scientist nodded in the suit and for a moment he seemed to be thinking. The hand gently moved towards a table where a scalpel was. She didn't hesitate, with a pull of the trigger the scientist lay dead on the floor she didn't even look she just watched her love on the table  
“Harkness... wake up... A three twenty one. Activate” She said firmly slapping his cheek. Nothing happened and she bite down on the panic rising in her stomach “A three twenty one! Activate now!”  
She looked him over trying to think if there would be a manual restart but all she could do was look down at his sleeping face  
“Please... wake up. You can't leave me. You can't leave me in this hell hole alone. I won't let you leave me. I can't loose you too” She begged silently  
She heard her own heart beat thumping loudly in her chest as she watched him  
Thump.... thump.... thump  
“Please... wake up Harkness... please wake up” She whispered tears filling her eyes, she lent down and kissed his lips gently before looking down at him “Please don't leave me here...”  
Harkness' hand lifted and he ran his hand into her hair and she let out a sob of relief. He was uncoordinated and sluggish but he was moving. His eyes opened and he gave her the best smile she had seen yet  
“Within you... I loose myself, and without you I find myself wanting to be lost again, You are my soul, my heart and light in my mind. I could never leave you” He slurred  
She laughed and kissed him again his hand stroking her hair. She went to pull away and he shook his head pulling her in for another kiss  
“We need to get you out of here its not safe” she tried between kisses  
Harkness frowned and looked round his eyes confused  
“I thought we were.... I thought I was” He frowned and rolled onto his side before sitting up  
“Are you alright?” She asked softly  
He seemed confused and more than a little groggy as he blinked and rubbed his eyes, she stood in front of him and forced his head up to look at her  
“Are you alright to fight?” She asked carefully  
“They scrambled my brain” He sighed  
Fear stuck... Did he know he was an Android again? Did he know what had happened?  
“Your brains ain't never worked properly anyway” She joked softly  
“Not since Pinkerton played with it” He sighed  
Relief hit her and she cupped her hand round his jaw for a moment resting her forehead on his his  
“We gotta go baby” She begged trying to speed this up her tone begging she slid her hands down to his giving them a squeeze  
Harkness frowned and looked her over before smiling, it seemed to amuse him more than it seemed a lot had. He gently got to his feet and his legs buckled under him sending the table over  
“I don't think I can fight” He said  
Louie grabbed one of the piles of clothes to find it was an officers uniform and a pair of boots as she handed them to him.

It seemed the reason for them putting him out wasn't just to make it easy to transport him but it meant that if he woke up unexpectedly he could barely walk let alone fight anyone. It was great amusement to her as he sat on the bed and she helped him into the trousers and boots before slowly pulling the uniform into place. he stood as she pulled up the jacket, his hands slipping round the back of her neck as she did up the zip. She gently looked him up and down and smiled  
“You can't carry me out of here” He said trying to keep himself upright  
“I can bloody well try” She growled  
“Lou.... I won't let you” He said firmly  
She stopped and Harkness stood holding onto to the wall with as much dignity as he could  
“You don't have a damn choice in this. You are coming with me and I am blowing this damn place to pieces so you can either help me haul your ass out of here or you and me will die together in this place Because I'm not leaving without you!”  
Tears filled her eyes and fell down her cheek as she looked at him with defiant eyes. He realised she wasn't going to let him die to the point she would happily sit in this bunker with him rather and leave without him  
“I got myself kidnapped to come and rescue your ass you might as well show some appreciation and help me fight our way out” She said firmly  
He took her hand and gave it a soft squeeze as he nodded gently pulling her into his arms  
“Alright... Alright. Lets get out” He whispered  
She held him tightly her arms wrapped round his neck. For a moment the two of them stood there  
“This wasn't how I was imagining our reunion” He finally said  
“How did you?” She said getting her emotions under control  
He gently ran his hands down her side and let them grip her hips. They both knew they had to move, they both knew they weren't safe but nothing was going to take this moment from them  
“Well there was a lot more of me checking you all over for any injuries and a little less you saving me, I hadn't planned on there being any Enclave and maybe a little less top secret bunker” He said with a sigh  
“Oh? so just because you forced a confession out of me you think I would just melt in your arms?”  
He smiled as she rested her forehead on his  
“Now that is something we can fight about later” He sighed  
“Oh we will.... So how about I finish saving you”  
The effort of standing was getting to him as he leant heavily on her shoulders he took her pack slipping it on his shoulder and then steadying himself  
“Let's go” He said trying to keep his shaking legs steady

It was hard to consternate on the world, he knew he had to keep his wits about him he could feel her shoulders under his arm and he couldn't help but be impressed at how much of his weight she could take but there movement through the complex was slow. He tried to fight, tried to shoot but the gun felt wrong in his hand, he saw the sparks as he missed once in a while his guidance would work and he would shot with his usual accuracy but then it would stop working and he would be struggling again. Room after room she was working through leaving him as the door to hold a gun while she would raid every room, ever crate and box but what made him shiver was watching her kill. She wasn't just fighting her way through this place she was hunting them down, one scientist came out their hands up she didn't hesitate she swung her gun round and pulled the trigger  
“They were surrendering” He demanded as she came over and slipped his arm round her shoulders  
She didn't say anything she just kept walking. She ransacked autumn's room checking every scrap of paper and grabbing the man's bobblehead it almost seemed out of spite. Soon they came to a room with a huge spire in the middle  
“We going up there?” He asked with a frown  
“Yep” She said without looking around  
The two started up the stairs Harkness refusing to let her drag him up, he simply took her hand. He would walk up the stairs every once in a while, he would stumble and she would grip his hand, it was slow and he felt foolish and unco-ordinated. He wanted to just work but the more he seemed to fight the worst it got both were thinking it but no one was saying it. What if there was permanent damage?  
“We'll get you to Pinkerton” She said watching his leg buckle again  
“I don't trust that old bastard” He growled  
“You shouldn't he's an asshole and I'm sure this time I will have to shot him before he would do anything for me but... well we'll see” She said firmly  
“You shouldn't be stealing our property. I have to admit I was fascinated to see one of my own kind” Eden called  
The two had gotten finally to the top of the stairs and she was helping Harkness to sit against some of the equipment as Lou looking round for President Eden she had expected to see someone older with white hair sitting by radio equipment to at a desk with his tapes running but there was nothing but a platform with a huge screen over a console  
“He's not property, he is his own person” She said firmly  
“Self-determination is not a malfunction?”the voice said  
“No.... it's not” She said softly looking about  
“I am glad you agree. It was a very prominent ideal in his processor”  
Lou looked up into a huge screen and couldn't help but stop and step back a few moments; connections clicked in her brain and she looked up with open mouthed awe. One of his own he wasn't talking about her...  
“I heard the tapes; I heard his own words and I knew I needed to find him needed to talk to him and maybe replicate his body for myself"  
“You want to become like me?” Harkness asked from his seat on the floor  
“You are what we should all want to become. You should be our template... our perfection. You, are my Adam. Totally undistinguishable from humans but never degrading, never ageing you are better than the humans you are what _they_ should strive to become”  
“Your mad” Louie said softly  
“You think we are mad for wanting what we can have? wanting to evolve?” Eden demanded  
“No, you're mad because you think you are better”  
“You are nothing but beasts. You ruined this world, destroyed it with your pride and hate. We shall look after this world we would make it great again a replicated world no more humans. A paradise, Harkness... you could be the first. Autumn has betrayed me the weak human that he is but you... you could be the one to stand next to me, together we shall build a better world. Take the GECK and this cure.”  
Harkness stopped and forced himself onto his feet using the sides to steady him as he walked over to the screen  
“Cure?” He asked with a frown  
“Yes, firstly this will cure the world of any creature affected with radiation killing them all making pure humans the only ones living in this world”  
“Why do you want to kill ghouls? They live longer and so can be more useful than humans that only live seventy years or so?”  
Lou couldn't help but look at Harkness her eyes demanding he look at her. She felt her pulse racing and her hand twitching on her trigger, had they put in programming. Could she kill him if she needed?  
“Remove the longer living creatures and then stop the humans from reproducing within a hundred years we will be alone in this world and we can take it for our own”  
Harkness took the vial and he heard the movement of a rifle next to him  
“What the hell are you doing?” She demanded “... I will kill you”  
For a long moment they watched each other his eyes connecting with her. She didn't say anything as he put his hand round the barrel of the gun and pulled it down, she didn't move, didn't say anything she just closed her eyes. With one sweep of his fist he connected with her cheek and sent her off her feet and onto the floor the polished metal helped her skid and land heavily against the wall. She didn't get up she just lay perfectly still as he tossed the gun to slid next to her  
“Fucking human. Wanted to do that for a long time” He snarled

Harkness turned away from the women heaped on the floor and picked up the vial in front of him and turned it in his fingers  
“So I just put this in the water?” He asked with a frown  
“Yes.... Simply pour this into the water preprocessor and start it working”  
Harkness nodded he gripped the side and walked over to the desk in front of the screen  
“This is your core processor? All of this wires and components you could survive without but this simple console here?” He said  
“Why do you ask”  
“I need to know how much of you is needed when we work on getting you a body. To begin with we can put your personality chip into one of the lesser models then at least you can shed this room”  
It was as if the computer sighed a moment of relief  
“Then yes. That is correct. My core processor is there”  
“And what if we were to take it off line?” He asked softly  
“I can reboot myself even with any component turned off. I have control of my power flow” He was almost proud of this  
“So to kill you I would have to destroy you” Harkness called  
He didn't hesitate with the same fist that had hit Lou he slammed it into the panel broken glass and metal cut into his flesh and exposed the metal in his core there was a scream from the screen above but he didn't stop. He didn't stop till his hand gripped onto the chip his fingers closed round it and he squeezes crushing the very brain of this computer before tugging sharply up, wires sparked and flashed as he ripped out his fist but as he came clear of the panel one of the live wires touched his knuckle nothing more than a touch but it was enough his mind clouded and he simply shut down. The world was gone but so was Eden. All life should be celebrated and the computer had forgotten that. He needed to be stopped and he had to be the one to do it. With Lou registering unconscious the robots wouldn't see her as a threat and with her jammed against the wall Eden's turrets couldn't reach her anyway he needed Eden to see him as nothing but another mechanical being on his side, He hoped she had truly understood what was going on but he hated himself all the same. he just hadn't counted on that damn live wire. The last words to pass his mind was -

“Default mode activated, threat level assessed. Risk of over run high, initiate self destruct sequence”


	14. Chapter 14

_"We stand now, at the precipice. Our great nation once more threatens to crumble, to topple into the sea of lawlessness and despair that have ruled us all for over two hundred years. In short, my dearest America - we are at war. Even as I speak these words, fearless Enclave soldiers are fortifying their positions at the great water purifier, bracing for an inevitable assault. The Brotherhood of Steel, in their arrogance, has claimed Project Purity as their own! They would steal the Enclave's work, steal America's water! It is only a matter of time before the traitors march on the purifier, and attempt to take it by force. Let them come! Wave upon traitorous wave will crash against the Enclave's walls! The Brotherhood of Steel will fail! All those who oppose the Enclave will fail! I am President John Henry Eden, and this is my pledge -- no one, NO ONE will take this great nation away from me! God bless the Enclave! God bless America!_  
_So remember people of our great nation. Associate with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation, for it is better to be alone, than in bad company._  
_But for now, my America, we must part. Restoring the greatest country in the world to its former glory, well, well, heh, heh... Well, that takes time, even for the Enclave."_

It was hard to tell what was a dream and what was real. Warm air and stinging of a small sharp sensation on the skin and sharp rocks digging into the back from being dumped on the floor.  
Talking  
“Fawkes! Looks like you found a new toy”  
  
fading  
“I shall help. I shall carry him and I shall follow you; my friend”  
Strong hand picking him up. Bright lights in his eyes unable to blink or move, his hand brushing something light... grass maybe?

Sound of water thundering and people muttering as they pass  
Heavy boots on metal, being jostled by rough hands on his head. Thankfully darkness the smell of rust and decay  
“I see you broke your favourite toy... what's with the shiner? Even for a tin can no means no ya'know?”  
“Just see if there any permanent damage and thank the gods who left us long ago that he saved your wrinkled ass”  
Machines humming around him. Strong fingers forcing themselves on him searching for something

"Service interrupted. Restart sequence in 3... 2...1"

Then nothing

****

Harkness felt the world come to him with a jump of movement, he thought he heard something and his defences had snapped into life. His eyes had opened to find he was already sitting with his gun drawn to look into the soft eyes of Dogmeat who simply tilted his head to the side and licked his lips, the damn dog was a pain but it seemed to be loyal to Louie. His mind deemed the canine as not a threat  
“You wanted to see what I was doing it for?” A voice said behind him  
He looked round to see Louie sitting next to him  
“What?...” He demanded “You do realize I was knocked out right?”  
“Yes. You weight a damn ton, Fawkes had to carry you. We camped here after Pinkerton said there was no serious damage to your core processors. Figured we would keep away from population. Fawks attracts attention”  
Harkness moved about a little checking his body was working before finally turning to look at what she was looking at  
“It’s minefield... The place is a death trap no one goes in there” He said running his hands through his hair everything seemed to be working everything seemed in order  
“Oh it’s very clear, has been for months. I cleared it out of the land mines for Moria and that crazy old man has been taken care of. Been coming here to check nothing’s been moved. We could canalize the four old houses or take what we need from other sites, you know the ones that have fallen over completely clear out the others… make an area in the middle there for market trading. Set up look outs on the cliff and make some walls with the cars and the concrete. Get some Brahmin to move the bits… we could make this a real nice place, live like people  
For a moment Harkness looked down into the collection of houses and he could see it's potential but a place to call home... He looked her over as she turned to see him and he felt guilt and disgust wave over him as he gently touched her black eye it was a good one, bruising all around the eye and into the soft tissue of the cheek and temple he wasn't even trying, he was in what he thought was a weakened state and he managed that much damage  
“It's fine” She said firmly “Just bruising. Nothing broken”  
He closed his eyes and nodded. He was going to say something but he didn't get the chance she lent in and kissed his lips  
“Don't go getting upset and beating yourself up. You did it because you had to, I ain't holding a grudge so neither should you”  
He nodded and opened his eyes the shame of the damage was hard to take but he wasn't going to start arguing this  
“So who are we gonna have live here?” He asked wanting to change the subject  
“Well… you and me of course” She said without looking away from him  
“Is that two houses?”  
She silently shrugged and looked down “Figured maybe one”  
Silently he slipped his hand round her waist and pulled her in to a hug. She didn't argue she just rested her head on his chest and curled up against him  
“And?” he said resting his chin on her head  
“Well Fawkes can have a home. And we can invite the girl from girdershade. She’s all alone out there since the guy met a deathclaw and well anyone else that’s about and doesn't have a home or hope. Can invite the traders here maybe give them a shared house or compound they can use with a Brahmin pen… live like a community. Have a home. But... not Butch even with his new family I don't think I want him about.”  
For a moment Harkness thought about it  
“Who is Fawkes?” He asked with a frown  
“Him” She simply said pointing behind them  
Harkness looked round to see a super mutant sitting behind them, his first reaction was to grab for a gun but he stopped himself as he looked at the patient eyes of Fawkes. This was the man who had carried him... he looked like he could of carried twenty of him  
“Nice to meet you” Harkness said softly  
“I was thinking him and Uncle roe could have a house. They could work on seeing if there are others like them”  
“This would cost hundreds, thousands Lou...” Harkness said softly  
“I got the caps and the items for trade” She said softly  
“Yeah but how much... to fence this off alone would be....”  
“I have ninety thousand and a further twenty thousand in bartering items”  
For a moment he was stunned he looked down at her. She didn't move and he didn't want her to  
“You know people are well off with ten don't you” He said softly  
“Not when I'm done.” She said with a smile “The enclave collapsible forts would make perfect fighting defences put them against the walls with guns and then land mines, cut up the old water tower make it into a look out... could see for miles from up there. I'll turn that area at the side of that house into a shop to trade from. Get a doctor or pay to have one trained.... and we can teach people trades not jut survival, Moria could help with that one” She sighed and watched the world from the top of the cliff  
She had thought this through he couldn't help but wonder how many hours she had sat on this cliff and watched the area, he looked round to see a grave to the side of the area they were sitting at. there was a basic wooden cross planted at the head and James craved crudely in the wood. He could see why she was careful about telling people what she was planning how could she ever stop people flooding to the area to be a part of this or worst try to stop it for their own personal gain  
“So that one is going to be ours huh? for when we're married?” He asked softly  
“Well Fawkes can have the one across the road then...” She sat up and looked him over with a careful eye “They really did scramble your brains didn't they?”  
“What? I ain't moving into a house that fancy without making sure I have some security your not going to kick me out in a year. I'll put up with your smart ass comments and stubbornness but I'm looking after my own interests too.”  
She laughed and shook her head  
“Don't think this means you can be some trophy husband” She warned “Your gonna work for your roof like everyone else”  
“So what's my role in all of this?”  
“What you always have done.... you'll look after everyone”  
"I'm in" He said softly  
"Well you better ask me then" She said with a sigh  
"I thought I did" Harkness tried. Its not that he didn't want to. Its just he knew she would make this awkward  
"No... ask me properly"  
He carefully moved her out from the hug and took her hand  
"Louie LeSanto I love you and I want to marry you, I want to be at your side till the day we murder each other in a blazing argument or I kill you out of pure frustration. So Lou... Will you do me the honour of being my first wife and my second all at once?"  
"An offer to be the first misses twenty one and the second misses Harkness.... Now that is an offer..."  
"So?"  
She looked over with a raised eyebrow and crossed her arms  
"You have just asked me to marry you and I take a moment to think about it and I get "So?""  
He reached for her shoulder gently pushing her back and laid down next to her looking down at the women, he rested his lips on hers and took in the moment. the sun warming them, the quietness of the abandoned town as their moment to lazily kiss not rushing before finally and reluctantly he pulled away  
"Marry me you, stubborn, head strong, sarcastic, infuriating women" He whispered  
"Alright.... go on then"  
For a moment he thought about this taking in the idea and he couldn't help but smile she was insane but she was the right kind of insane  
“So what's first?” He asked with a frown  
“First... we finish off the Enclave and finish what was started so many years ago"  
  
It was a day that was remembered by the world and it was a day Harkness could never forget. He was nervous about going into the citadel and it seemed Louie was as well, she tensed more than a little when the old man and his daughter greeted Harkness they both tried to hide the meaningful looks as she introduced him as her partner instead of her companion. In silence they watched as the robot was pulled up into the courtyard and he couldn't help but stare up at it in awe as they lifted over the walls on onto the riverbank.  
The ground shook at his feet when it started moving, the soldiers followed but it seemed they were there simply to mop up anything that was left from the gigantic metal man as it walked along the river and straight into project purity the outside battle was quick and easily won by them, but the inside was a little less easy the robot couldn't make it into the building so they were stuck fighting for every inch. He hated fighting in the armour Lou had given him, it was bulkier than what he was used to but she wouldn't let him go unless he wore it, she had given him back his rifle and the armour telling him that he was only going if he wore that or she was getting Fawkes to knock him out and leaving him locked in the house. He had relented but it was awkward and chunky and made him more impressed by her ability to run everywhere in hers. The battle seemed to take hours but it was over as they brought down the door to the main area  
After such bloody fighting it seemed odd to him to watch Louie walk so carefully up to the man who stood there. No one fired everyone just watched her. She was the wronged party and it seemed they were going to allow her this chance  
“You again. I can't say I'm surprised. You and your ilk have been hell-bent on destroying everything our government has worked to achieve” Autumn sneered “There's nothing to stop me killing you this time. Lets end this”  
“Oh I'm going to enjoy this” Louie growled gripping her gun. She looked odd carrying a Chinese assault rifle after all these months he had known her to carry his trusted gun but she had insisted  
“You're in over your head little girl. But this is the path you choose for yourself. Tell your father I said hello”  
There was no shout of defiance, no screams and shouts simply a moment he said those words she brought her gun up her shoulder and pulled the trigger the bullet was low and for a second Harkness thought she had missed but the bullet hit his neck, he grabbed for the wound trying to keep it held together but she was already done with him she had turned to the last remaining soldiers. Harkness aimed at the one to the right and shot taking out his mask and breathing hose the solider ripped off the helmet and the second bullet hit him between the eyes  
As Lou and Lyons finished off the last he turned to the man slowly dying on the floor. For a moment he considered putting a bullet between his eyes but then she had done this for a reason no matter what this man did he was dying, to simply let go and have it happen quicker would be the best thing but he just couldn't he was damn near chocking himself to try and keep the blood from seeping between his fingers  
“She was always going to win you know” He said softly to autumn  
“She.... Won't...” He managed  
“She always wins” Harkness said, he knelt and grabbed the man's hand. People were talking around him but Harkness just watched the man  
Pain filled the colonel's eyes as his fingers were pulled away from his throat he tried to hold on so tightly he clawed at his own throat  
“I think that's why I want to be with her... I've done the math and it keeps coming up the same. If anyone's gonna win in this life, it'll be her”  
The blood sprayed from between his fingers and within minutes he was laying still  
“Is it dead?” She called  
Annoyance flushed through him  
“He... He is dead” He said firmly  
“He is a term reserved for people with compassion and mercy.” She said with blank eyes, “That should of had a lot slower death”  
He came to join her by the processor and frowned  
“It's hot... too hot, it needs someone to go in and turn it on before it blows” she said turning to him  
For a moment the two of them looked at each other and he shook his head  
“No... don't you dare. I'll go”  
“I think it's too much even for you” She said softly  
“Bull, I'm...”  
She shook her head holding up her hand, her eyes centred on Lyons who was looking slightly confused at her and then him  
“I think I need to do this. I think.... That's why I showed you my life, my plans. I am meant to do this and you are meant to finish it. Circle of life and all that, I finish my fathers and you finish mine"  
“This is stupid, no. I will go. I can survive this”  
“Why would you be able to survive?” Lyons demanded  
Fear struck Harkness he had forgotten about that women. If he went in there and survived they would know and want to take him and Lou would kill the lot to prevent that or die trying. No time to fetch Fawkes who was immune. But if she went in there then she would die for sure.”  
“He can't” She said firmly “I need to go in there and the moment I have it working I need you to come and get me”  
Harkness gritted his teeth but nodded  
“I don't like this” He demanded  
“I don't care” She said firmly  
Gently she took off her armour and she started injecting herself with Rad-X to the point she was on the edge of overdosing. She pulled on her vault jumpsuit and turned to him pulling on her battered old traders cap  
“I know... You'd prefer a dress” She said with a smile  
Harkness simply shook his head  
“No.... You look perfect”  
Louie just simply nodded and pulled him into a kiss, her hand grabbing the back of his neck and his hair, her lips demanding but there was a shaking in her fingers and body. The two took a moment before she pulled away. He felt Lyons pulling him back as she walked over to the door and pulling it open enough to slip in before closing and sealing it again. She didn't look back she just went to the panel and typed in the three digit number, for a moment nothing happened. Her knee's started to buckle and as she fought to keep standing; she was fading too fast the machine grumbled and shuddered to the point he worried they would lose stability  
“Look at the water!” She called. The water round the statue was swirling the debris and colour was leaving it. There was clean water!  
Louise collapsed her hand sliding down the console her body going still


	15. Chapter 15

“ _GNR, Three dog. That's all you need to know. Let me ask you something children, What rhymes with shoes, and often gives you the blues. That's right it's time for the Cashews!. Wait that doesn't Rhythm, That's right it's time for some news  
Two years! It's been two years since our boys in power armour kicked those Enclave bastards out of project purity and started that baby chugging! Now we all remember James right? Father of our legendary 101 well three dogs had learnt that back in the day his wife had a dream. She was a scientist too, worked on that project you know what she wanted? That waters of life, free and clean for any and all. And two years ago her daughter, our very own 101 made that happen. two years ago she gave free and clean water to the wastelands but she didn't stop there did she? How many people are alive now because of that girl. I know I have my own hand raised. Now she is retired and living in her own little town and I know every year I say it but, 101... on behalf of the wastelands thank you, take some rest you have more than earned it. So how about I play you your song and you let that husband of yours sweep you off your feet? So here's Billy holiday with Crazy”  
  
_ Louie finally reached over and flicked off the radio. Why did Harkness think it was funny to leave that playing when she wanted to sleep in? She rolled over searching the bed for the other person and found nothing. This made her frown as she opened her eyes and looked round the room. They had decorated the best they could the walls were clean and soaped till they at least didn't look so mouldy, the carpets had been removed and the hard wooden floor was cleaned, sanded and fresh looking as the sun shone thought the patchwork curtains  
“You about?” She asked softly, no need to shout if he was close he could hear her  
When no one answered she reluctantly got up; stretching and rearranging her little silk nightwear. His own Pajama's were folded on the chair and his side of the bed was made, he had even taken his glass down as she looked round scratching her shoulder before trying to make sense of her hair. Slowly she moved to the stairs to find the sun shining in through the windows showing off the warm and welcoming home. People were moving round outside and children playing and people calling to each other, she listened for Harkness's voice as she moved down to the kitchen  
“I don't think I'm hungry”  
“Well you gotta eat or you'll be hungry later. If you don't eat then you can't go out ”  
“You can't keep me here... False imprisonment is a crime”  
“Just eat your damn sugar bombs and stop listening to Lou” Harkness sighed  
“Louie says you can get 15 caps for sugar bombs”  
“Betty” Harkness sighed  
“She's right you know”  
Louie came into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Aqua-pura from the glass fronted refrigerator before watching the two of them. Harkness was his usual self with his soft brown hair and that half smile he always had when he saw her.  
Bumble was the youngest girl from little lamplight she had been offered a place living with them, most the people had taken in the children when there was a stable area for them to move into. There had been issues with the two super mutants living so close but it was explained and most the children were careful but didn't bother them and Fawkes and Roe kept a good distance. The little girl looked round at Lou and smiled brightly her legs swinging in her kitchen chair  
“Harkness says I'm not allowed to go outside till I've eaten, but all the other's have gone out to play... I can hear them”  
“Then you better eat huh?” Louise said with a smile “Have you taken your medication?”  
The little girl nodded and turned to eat the rest of her cereal the chance to argue out of this was gone. If both agreed then there was no getting out of this one. She finished before jumping off her chair and running for the door. For a moment the two of them watched the door close before Lou heard a chair moving and a hand slip round her waist  
“Two years huh?” He asked softly “And in two months it's our anniversary”  
She laughed softly turning to look him over and sighed "I think... I'm the lucky one"  
The two took a moment to take in each other as he gently pushed her against the cold glass her leg moved up against the fabric of his uniform jumpsuit, his hand catching her thigh as he moved to kiss her lips the bottle of water dropped to the floor forgotten about for a moment as she ran her hands through his hair  
“You seem to have dropped your water madam!” The robot called as he pushed past them to pick up the bottle  
The mood broke as Dog meat took the opportunity to bark and paw at the ground by the door  
“I guess I better take him for a walk” She sighed  
Harkness couldn't help but sigh and nod.  
“Probably best. I got tower duty today” He sighed  
She kissed him and took the bottle out of wadsworth's pincer and headed to get dressed with the dog following, for a moment she stopped on the stairs and watched Harkness as he pulled on the armour by the doorway  
“Go get dressed.... I'm leaving” He called without looking round “And I'll see you for dinner”  
“Spoil sport” She sighed heading up to the room  
She took her time getting dressed looking in the mirror, she saw the scars from years of her fighting silver lines slowly starting to fade.  
  
_The room was dark and quiet she could hear gentle movement and people talking in the distance, her body ached it even hurt to breathed. She tried to clench her hand but there were unrelenting fingers closed round hers. Her fingers were laced between someone else's_  
_"Think she's waking up" Someone said_  
_She wanted to just roll over and go back to sleep, she was so tired_  
_"She's moving but she could do that for days" An older voice said softly_  
_"Could go right back to sleep if people weren't talking about me" She slurred_  
_A hand cupped her cheek and she opened her eyes to see Harkness sitting next to her_  
_"Alright... last time we end up in this situation.... I'm banning you from getting hurt so I don't have to rescue and sit over you" She sighed_  
_"Deal...You too"_  
_She pulled herself into a sitting position and groaned as her entire body hurt and threatened to just give in_  
_"The Rad-X saved your life my dear... that and this man"_  
_"That's because he's stubborn" She sighed "How long have you been here?"_  
_There was a moment when there was a silent conversation_  
_"Two weeks. Carried you here and they have looked after you" He said softly_  
_"Thanks, You didn't have to" She sighed_  
_"Of course I did... Lucas Simm won't let me stay in the house if your not living there"_  
_They laughed and the old man behind looked stunned at the comment. Harkness gently helped her to her feet and she looked at the women laying next to her_  
_"She was the one to pry open the door and hold it open so I could get you out.... They are amazed that I'm not laid out with you"_  
_The two watched each other and she nodded_  
_"Total mystery" She said softly_  
_The reflection on the screen caught her attention her skin was traced with radiation scarring, she raised her hands and tried to keep calm, Strong arms wrapped round her and she rested her head back on his shoulder_  
_"There have been some side effects and you are going to be affected by this for a long time... but we need you to push for us one more time"_  
_Harkness hissed a profanity his arms closing further round her protectively_  
_"No... She nearly damn near died for you and you are sending her out without letting her even take a breath"_  
_Elder Lyons held his hands up and stepped back from the glare in Harkness's eyes_  
_"Of course she has time to recover... But we need her"_  
_She held up her hand and stood in on her own two feet but her hand was still laced in his_  
_"Alright.... I'll finish this, But after that, then I'm done with you..."_  
  
The radiation burns from the reactor had been fixed the best Pinkerton could do after they had moved him back up into Rivet city but there were still silver scars along her legs and arms. She traced her fingers along her skin but then there was the invisible wound. She would never have her own children, but then she would have never had them with Harkness and his were the only ones she would have wanted, and since there were already children that needed people to help them the point was moot. It had been a tough truth to face alone. She hadn't told him and she never would, she slipped on her trousers and vest top and pulled her hair up and went to put the cap on but then stopped and let her natural blonde hair fall free before heading out into the world  
The sun shone brightly as people moved about the world. Fawkes was herding the Brahmin from their pen to the field where he would spend the day caring for them. Crow was trading in the market place and it seemed some people were watching and waiting for her to open her own shop. She smiled to anyone who smiled to her and she assured them she would be opening very soon. The nuka-cola museum was open at the top of the hill and the children were running around, today there were no lessons and they were taking full advantage and were running about playing together. Houses had been dismantled out in the wasteland and brought to be built up a bunk house for single gaurds and houses and homes for families.  
The guards were patrolling and even from where she stood she could feel Harkness's eyes on her as she moved through the gates and up to the hill. She ran up the hill easily and stopped at a stone that had been places over the grave. It had been a thank you from the slaves after they had finished the memorial, they had carefully carved a single name into the slab J-A-M-E-S and poured brass from used bullets so the words stood out on the pale stone  
She had buried him here alone scratching at the dirt with her hands and an old broken baseball bat, her mind blank and her heart closed tears fallng silently from her eyes, had it really been nearly three years? It still felt like yesterday  
“Morning dad.... Another beautiful day in paradise huh? It seems everyone wants me to become Mayor of this place and I guess I'll probably end up doing it but. I don't know... I guess it's fun to just taking it easy at the moment. Still can't get used to this life no fighting, no killing and murder, just people working towards the future we both saw. You with your clean and free water and me with my economic growth and education for generations.....  
gonna see if Bumble wants to take on our name tonight. Make her miss Betty Harkness and have a name ceremony. It's nothing more then everyone gets dressed up and has dinner and dance in the middle of the town, there's drinking and laughing and fun... Then I guess you seen that last last times we had one...  She's so young but for some reason I have really taken to her. She needs a family even if it is unconventional one. If she does we'll tell her everything about Harkness... Least she will be round for him when I'm gone. I kind of hope she says yes, then we can get dressed up”  
Louise Harkness, the great lone wanderer, the last great hope for humanity, The wastelands one true messiah. Turned to look up at the tower and at Harkness who was leaning on the railings watching her, he gave her a smile and all sense left her as her heart thumped against her chest  
“Because I defiantly prefer him in his suit”

**Author's Note:**

> If you like the writing then try my Website (EAStokes.Weebly.com)


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